McGahern was the son of a policeman who had once been a member of the Irish Republican Army (IRA). While taking evening courses at University College (B.A., 1957) in Dublin, he worked as a teacher. His first published novel, The Barracks (1963), tells of a terminally ill, unhappily married woman. Praised for its brilliant depiction of Irish life and for its sensitive portrayal of despair, the work won several awards. The Dark (1965) is a claustrophobic portrait of an adolescent trapped by predatory male relatives in a closed, repressed society. McGahern’s frank sexual portrayals in this novel earned the wrath of Irish censors, and he was asked not to return to his teaching job. His later novels include The Leavetaking (1974) and The Pornographer (1979). Perhaps his most acclaimed work is Amongst Women (1990), which centres on a tyrannical father who was a former IRA leader; it was adapted into a popular television series (1998) for the British Broadcasting Corporation. That They May Face the Rising Sun (also published as By the Lake) appeared in 2002. (from Brittanica)