Facebook Twitter Pinterest linkedin Telegram
Dublin Literary Award Dublin Literary Award
  • ABOUT
  • Books
  • Judges
  • Libraries
  • News
  • Archive
           
Menu
Dublin Literary Award
Sold out
HomeBooks20152015 Shortlist The Narrow Road to the Deep North
Previous product
On The Gold Coast
Back to products
Next product
The Shock of the Fall

The Narrow Road to the Deep North

Author: Richard Flanagan

2015 Shortlist

Judges’ Comments

Extended story of captured Tasmanian soldiers forced to work on the notorious Burma railroad in the Second World War. A wonderfully laconic, hard-bitten, set of inside stories – the layered lives and minds of vicious Japanese captors as well, of course, as of the harshly victimized, traumatized, starved, beaten, killed off, Commonwealth soldiery; all focussed around the believably complex, messed-up even, Tennyson-obsessivemedic Dorrigo Evans. Ghoulishly arresting cinematic scenes of torture and bodily violence, as well as of heroically ad hoc primitive surgery, suture together some serious revelations about human staunchnesses and treacheries in almost unthinkably adverse circumstances. A long fiction – almost unstoppably long – impressively unsettled about a grimly unsettling phase of modern warfare.

About the Book

A novel of the cruelty of war, and tenuousness of life and the impossibility of love.

August, 1943. In the despair of a Japanese POW camp on the Thai-Burma death railway, Australian surgeon Dorrigo Evans is haunted by his love affair with his uncle’s young wife two years earlier. Struggling to save the men under his command from starvation, from cholera, from beatings, he receives a letter that will change his life forever.

This savagely beautiful novel is a story about the many forms of love and death, of war and truth, as one man comes of age, prospers, only to discover all that he has lost.

(From Publisher)

About the Author

Richard Flanagan was born in Longford, Tasmania, in 1961. His novels, Death Of A River Guide, The Sound Of One Hand Clapping, Gould’s Book Of Fish, The Unknown Terrorist, and Wanting have received numerous honours and are published in twenty-six countries. He directed a feature film version of The Sound Of One Hand Clapping. A collection of his essays is published as And What Do You Do, Mr Gable?. His most recent novel, The Narrow Road to the Deep North, was published in 2013 to great acclaim.

Librarians’ Comments

A beautifully sad tale of a man who fell in love, but was sent to war, and in the end, taken prisoner. The story describes what he had to endure and follows his post war life and that of his Japanese captors.
This novel is an extraordinary study of beauty and brutality. Beautifully written, The Narrow Road to the Deep North explores the many forms of war, love, memory and loss.

Richard Flanagan’s sixth novel is a griping novel set in 1943, in a Japanese prisoner of war camp on the Thai-Burma railway. Flanagan exposes the cruelty of war while beautifully exploring the themes of the impermanence of life and the impossibility of love. The Narrow Road to the Deep North is a well researched story which has received great acclaim and has been longlisted for the 2014 Miles Franklin Literary Award. It is a work which demonstrates the skill of an author writing at the peak of his craft and is a worthy contender for the Dublin award.

Using dual narratives in a Japanese POW camp on the Thai-Burma death railway and suburban Australia, Richard Flanagan’s novel jumps between past and present to recount a horrific day on the railway and the post-war lives of those involved. The narratives contrast the hellish acts of war with a suburban illicit love story. Flanagan’s novel explores love and death, the horror of war, and the nature of heroism. The novel has won the Indie Book of the Year Award and been shortlisted to the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards and Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards.

  • Additional information
  • Libraries Ireland - Find This Book
Additional information
Author

Richard Flanagan

Country

AU

Nominating Library

The State Library of South Australia

Publisher

Knopf Australia, Vintage Australia

Libraries Ireland - Find This Book

Libraries Ireland Search System

Search for this book in the Dublin City online system and reserve for collection at the Irish library of your choice.

Search CATALOGUE Ireland for The Narrow Road to the Deep North

This search result is offered as a helping hand to find books in the Libraries Ireland Online Catalogue. Some results may not be accurate where book titles have common words with similar titles.

Category: 2015 Shortlist
Share
Facebook Twitter Pinterest linkedin Telegram
BROUGHT TO YOU BY

DUBLIN CITY COUNCIL

WITH KIND SUPPORT

CONTACT

DUBLIN Literary Award
Dublin City Library & Archive
138 – 144 Pearse Street, Dublin 2. Ireland
literaryaward@dublincity.ie
Tel +353 1 222 4802

  • ABOUT
  • Books
  • Judges
  • Libraries
  • News
  • Archive
Copyright © 2022 Dublin City Council
Website by JET Design
close
Start typing to see books you are looking for.
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
Cookie SettingsAccept All
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT
  • Books
  • Judges
  • Libraries
  • ABOUT
  • Archive
  • News
Scroll To Top