Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan yesterday launched their Christmas Book Club selections, exclusive to WH Smith. We are thrilled to announce that Joseph O’Connor’s magnificent novel SHADOWPLAY is one of Richard and Judy’s picks for Winter. Judy describes SHADOWPLAY as ‘a terrific book… dramatic, sad, but also richly funny… A truly great book you simply cannot put down’, whilst Richard says, ‘SHADOWPLAY is complex, rich, sad, funny, and a beautiful read. You’ll LOVE it.’
SHADOWPLAY was published in paperback this week by Vintage Books. WH Smith customers can enjoy exclusive special editions of the Book Club titles filled with added bonus content, including book club discussion points, author Q&As and more recommended reads.
London, 1878. Three extraordinary people begin their life together – and the idea for Dracula is born.
Fresh from life in Dublin, Bram Stoker – now manager of the Lyceum Theatre – is wrestling with dark demons in a new city, in a new marriage, and with his own literary aspirations. As he walks the streets at night, streets haunted by the Ripper and the gossip which swirls around his friend Oscar Wilde, he finds new inspiration. Soon, the eerie tale of Dracula begins to emerge.
But Henry Irving, volcanic leading man and impresario, is determined that nothing will get in the way of Bram’s dedication to the Lyceum. And both men are growing ever more enchanted by the beauty and boldness of Ellen Terry, the most celebrated actress of her generation.
Published in 2019, SHADOWPLAY, has garnered extraordinary praise, was a Sunday Times novel of the year and was shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize, the Dalkey and Costa Novel Prizes. SHADOWPLAY won Novel of the Year at the An Post Irish Book Awards. The superb audio edition, read by Barry McGovern and Anna Chancellor, is released by W.F. Howes in the UK and Dreamscape in the US. Europa published in the US, film rights are optioned and translation rights have been sold in eight translation markets so far: China (Shanghai Elegant People), Croatia (Fraktura), France (Editions Rivages), Hungary (Helikon), Italy (Guanda), Serbia (Carobna Knjiga), Sweden (Natur Och Kultur) and Turkey (Sia Kitap).The French edition was shortlisted for the Jean Monnet Prize.
About Joseph O’Connor
Joseph O’Connor was born in Dublin. He is the author of nine novels, two collections of short stories, and several bestselling works of non-fiction. He has also written film scripts and radio and stage-plays. His novel STAR OF THE SEA was an international bestseller, selling more than a million copies and being published in 38 languages. It won France’s Prix Millepages, Italy’s Premio Acerbi, the Irish Post Award for Fiction, the Nielsen Bookscan Golden Book Award, an American Library Association Award, the Hennessy/Sunday Tribune Hall of Fame Award, and the Prix Litteraire Zepter for European Novel of the Year.
He holds an honorary Doctorate in Literature from University College Dublin and received the Irish PEN Award for Outstanding Contribution to Irish Literature in 2012. He is the Inaugural Frank McCourt Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Limerick.
See Joseph O’Connor’s website here.
Praise for Joseph O’Connor and SHADOWPLAY
‘Ireland’s greatest storyteller.’ — The Sunday Independent
‘SHADOWPLAY totally swept me away . . . It’s a bit like Moulin Rouge meets Dracula. I absolutely loved it.”—Oliver Callan, Irish Examiner
‘Joseph O’Connor is a very great artist and storyteller. The quotient of enjoyment in his extraordinary new novel is stupendous.’ — Sebastian Barry
‘A vibrantly imaginative narrative of passion, intrigue and literary ambition.’ — Miranda Seymour, New York Times
‘Dazzling … The panache and subtlety of his prose perfectly match the gusto and creative finesse of the world his novel wonderfully evokes.’ – Peter Kemp, Sunday Times, Paperback of the Week
‘A colourful tale of secret love and public performance…in a romantic, lost London’ —The Times
‘A virtuoso act of literary ventriloquism. SHADOWPLAY is funny, smart, tender, wise and written with inch-perfect precision.’ – Colum McCann
‘A novel I’d recommend to anyone: a rollicking and moving story’ — James Naughtie, Radio Times
‘Ingenious…hugely impressive and utterly haunting’ — Sunday Mirror
‘An ambitious celebration of friendship, theatre and the power of darkness, SHADOWPLAY is chilling and dramatic in equal measure.’ — Jane Shilling, Daily Mail, Must Reads
‘A great writer performing Olympian literary storytelling.’ — Sir Bob Geldof
‘Subtly drawn and intensely affecting, this portrayal of accidental friendship, enduring love, frustrated ambition and the alchemy of acting … O’Connor’s main characters—Stoker, Irving and the beloved actress Ellen Terry—are so forcefully brought to life that when, close to tears, you reach this drama’s final page, you will return to the beginning just to remain in their company.’ — Anna Mundow, Wall Street Journal