The Blackwater Lightship
2001 Shortlist

The Blackwater Lightship

ABOUT
THE BOOK

It is Ireland in the early 1990’s. Three women, Dora Devereux, her daughter Lily and her grand-daughter Helen, have arrived, after years of strife, at an uneasy peace with each other. They know that in the years ahead it will be necessary for them to keep their distance. Now, however, Declan, Helen’s adored brother, is dying and the three of them come together in the grandmother’s crumbling old house with two of Declan’s friends. All six of them, from different generations and with different beliefs, are forced to listen to each other and come to terms with each other.

The Blackwater Lightship is a novel about morals and manners, about culture clashes and clashes of personalities, but it is also a novel full of stories, as the characters give an account of themselves, and the others listen, awe struck or deeply amused at things they have never heard before.

ABOUT
THE AUTHOR Colm
Tóibín

Colm Tóibín was born in Ireland in 1955 and lives in Dublin. He is the author of ten novels, three of which were nominated for the Booker Prize, two collections of stories and many works of non-fiction. His most recent novel, The Magician, was a top ten bestseller and was winner of the Rathbones Folio Award. In 2021, he was awarded the David Cohen Prize. He is the current Laureate for Irish Fiction.

 

 

Colm Tóibín was born in Ireland in 1955 and lives in Dublin. He is the author of ten novels, three of which were nominated for the Booker Prize, two collections of stories and many works of non-fiction. His most recent novel, The Magician, was a top ten bestseller and was winner of the Rathbones Folio Award. In 2021, he was awarded the David Cohen Prize. He is the current Laureate for Irish Fiction.

 

 

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