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Published Apr 2022
256 pages
Genre: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Speculative, Alt. History
Publication Information
From award-winning author John Crowley comes a novel that masterfully blends history and magic in Flint and Mirror.
As ancient Irish clans fought to preserve their lands and their way of life, the Queen and her generals fought to tame the wild land and make it English.
Hugh O'Neill, lord of the North, dubbed Earl of Tyrone by the Queen, is a divided man: the Queen gives to Hugh her love, and her commandments, through a little mirror of obsidian which he can never discard; and the ancient peoples of Ireland arise from their underworld to make Hugh their champion, the token of their vow a chip of flint.
From the masterful author of Little, Big comes an exquisite fantasy of heartbreaking proportion.
"Crowley triumphs with this beautiful, subtle fantasy, set in a 17th-century Ireland subject to both the desires of Queen Elizabeth and a host of magical forces...Rich, evocative prose, one of Crowley's hallmarks, elevate this above similar works. Fans of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell will be mesmerized." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"[An] enthralling secret history of the last great rebellion against the Tudor conquest of Ireland...Crowley deftly handles the balance between history and fiction without ever lowering the quality of his excellent prose." - Booklist (starred review)
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Photo by Jerry Bauer
John Crowley published his first novel The Deep in 1975, and his twelfth novel, Ka: Dar Oakley in the Ruin of Ymr, in 2017. In 1992 he received the Award in Literature from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. In 2006 he was awarded the World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement and the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award. He has been nominated for the American Book Award and is the recipient of an Ingram Merrill Foundation grant. He taught creative writing at Yale University from 1993 until his retirement in 2018.
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