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by Edna O'Brien
A woman discovers that the foreigner she thinks will redeem her life is a notorious war criminal.
Vlad, a stranger from Eastern Europe masquerading as a healer, settles in a small Irish village where the locals fall under his spell. One woman, Fidelma McBride, becomes so enamored that she begs him for a child. All that world is shattered when Vlad is arrested, and his identity as a war criminal is revealed.
Fidelma, disgraced, flees to England and seeks work among the other migrants displaced by wars and persecution. But it is not until she confronts him - her nemesis - at the tribunal in The Hague, that her physical and emotional journey reaches its breathtaking climax.
The Little Red Chairs is a book about love, and the endless search for it. It is also a book about mankind's fascination with evil, and how long, how crooked, is the road towards Home.
1000 Books April 2026 Read: The Little Red Chairs by Edna O'Brien
I am loving reading these books. Reading as many of the 1000 Books… as I can was already one of my reading goals, but I hadn't brought any focus to it. This group has enabled me to do that. It is wonderful to be able to discuss great literature with serious readers.
-Lana_Maskus
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (5/14/2026)
...udiobook and reading the hardcover, I finished https://www.bookbrowse.com/bb_briefs/detail/index.cfm/ezine_preview_number/11234/the-little-red-chairs The Little Red Chairs by Edna O'Brien. I wish I would have listened to it in its entirety as the narration by Juliet Stevenson was outstanding. It's an unusual book with many themes which...
-Lana_Maskus
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (5/7/2026)
...I'm almost done with reading and listening to https://www.bookbrowse.com/bb_briefs/detail/index.cfm/ezine_preview_number/11234/the-little-red-chairs The Little Red Chairs by Edna O'Brien. I understand why it's included in James Mustich's 1000 Books to Read Before You Die. Although it contains a very violent scene and focuses on tough...
-Lana_Maskus
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (4/30/2026)
...e 1000 Books to Read Before You Die selection, https://www.bookbrowse.com/bb_briefs/detail/index.cfm/ezine_preview_number/11234/the-little-red-chairs The Little Red Chairs by Edna O'Brien. I'm listening to it when driving and then picking up the hardcover where I stopped listening in order to maximize my time on it. Why do my "required...
-Lana_Maskus
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (4/23/2026)
...erious time to it this weekend. Also, must get https://www.bookbrowse.com/bb_briefs/detail/index.cfm/ezine_preview_number/11234/the-little-red-chairs The Little Red Chairs by Edna O'Brien finished for the 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die side read. I'm still listening to The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. The plight of the poor and the im...
-Lana_Maskus
1000 Books: 2026 Books read/upcoming
...uary: A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan February: The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick March: Liar's Poker by Michael Lewis April: The Little Red Chairs by Edna O'Brien May: A Lesson Before Dying by Lewis J. Gaines June: The Ascent of Rum Doodle by W.E. Bowman July: Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini August: TBD Septem...
-kim.kovacs
1000 Books: What shall we read in June 2026?
Still on tap: Reading now, discuss starting May 1: The Little Red Chairs by Edna O'Brien. Read in May, discuss starting June 1: A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines. Read in June, discuss starting July 1: Whatever we vote on above.
-kim.kovacs
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (4/02/2026)
...Liar's Poker by Michael Lewis for our 1000 Books Before You Die side read . (BTW, anyone is welcome to join this side read at any time. We're reading The Little Red Chairs by Edna O'Brien in April - discussion opens May 1 - and A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines in May for discussion in June). I should finish it today & will pos...
-kim.kovacs
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (3/26/2026)
...Poker for our 1000 Books to Read Before You Die side read. BTW, anyone's welcome to join this side read at any point (info here ) . We'll be reading The Little Red Chairs by Edna O'Brien in April for discussion starting May 1, and then A Lesson Before Dying by Earnest J. Gaines in May with discussion starting June 1. In audiobook, I'm...
-kim.kovacs
"Starred Review. O'Brien's writing in this rich, wrenching book can be both lyrical and hard-edged, which suits a world where pain shared or a tincture of kindness can help ease the passage from losses." - Kirkus
"Starred Review. O'Brien retains every element of her gorgeous writing [in] her new novel... Dark fairy-tale threads give the story a magic-realism effect, but ultimately...the author's twenty fourth book is starkly realistic. O'Brien speaks to contemporary political violence in a suitably audible voice." - Booklist
"Fidelma's eventual redemption seems forced, but O'Brien's eerily potent gaze into the nature of evil is haunting." - Publishers Weekly
"Devastating but characteristically insightful [and] artfully written... It is also the first great work of fiction to explore the new underworld of migrant labour in bulimically rich London, meticulously researched from the inside." - Ed Vulliamy, Guardian (UK)
"Authoritative and engrossing... For all its confrontations with calamity and upheaval, The Little Red Chairs is neither grim nor fraught with despair. It is filled, on the contrary, with a narrative energy and aplomb...This is a writer whose descriptive gift is fine-tuned." - Patricia Craig, Independent (UK)
"The narrative is harrowing, yet it is full of lyrical language and moving touches of the everyday." - Telegraph (UK)
"Extraordinary." - Claire Messud for the Boston Globe
"Provocative, moving, masterly... O'Brien has a way of hypnotizing the reader." - Fiona Wilson, Times (UK)
"O'Brien's fizzing, risk-taking symphony is a triumph...The most brilliant powerfully evocative Irish novel published in 2015...This is storytelling of the highest order, resounding with the empathy and authority we yearn for in fine writing." - Joseph O'Connor, Independent (Ireland)
"This is a novel that leaves an indelible impression - gorgeously written and fiercely humane." - Stephanie Cross, Daily Mail (UK)
"The great Edna O'Brien has written her masterpiece." - Philip Roth
"The Little Red Chairs is a daring invention set at the bloody crossroads where worlds collide: savage, tender and true." - John Banville
"Edna O'Brien is both brilliant and brave. This book astonished me." - Ann Patchett
"Reading The Little Red Chairs reaffirms a belief I've held since I first read Ms. O'Brien's work: She is, quite simply, a master." - Kevin Powers
This information about The Little Red Chairs was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Photo: Orion Books
Edna O'Brien was an Irish novelist, memoirist, playwright, poet and short story writer. She was considered the "doyenne" of Irish literature. She was the winner of the 1993 Writer's Guild Prize for Fiction. Her biography of James Joyce was published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson in June 1999. In 2001 her documentary novel, In the Forest - about a brutal murder on the west coast - caused a furor in her native Ireland. It was the subject of a BBC Omnibus film and was later shortlisted for Irish Book of the Decade.
O'Brien now lives in London. She received the Irish PEN Award in 2001. Saints and Sinners won the 2011 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, the world's richest prize for a short story collection. In 2018 she received the PEN/Nabokov Award. Faber and Faber published her memoir...
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