Not Untrue and Not Unkind - Softcover

O'Loughlin, Ed

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0141038063 ISBN 13: 9780141038063

Publisher: Penguin Ireland, 2010

Synopsis

Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2009. In Dublin, a newspaper editor is found dead. One of his colleagues, Owen Simmons, discovers a dossier on the dead man's desk. And in the dossier Owen finds a photograph, which brings him back, once again, to a dusty road in Africa and to the woman he once loved ... Not Untrue and Not Unkind is Owen's story - a gripping story of friendship, rivalry and betrayal amongst a group of journalists and photographers covering Africa's wars. A remarkably assured and mature debut, it is a tale utterly for our times. 'A simply brilliant debut by an author of great poise and power' Tim Butcher, author of Blood River 'A fine, darkly authoritative novel' Joseph O'Neill, author of Netherland 'The most exciting first novel I have read in many years' Anne Enright, winner of the Man Booker Prize 2007 'Graceful' Guardian 'Superb' The Times 'Gripping' Daily Mail

About this title

About the Author:

Ed O'Loughlin was born in Toronto and raised in Ireland. He reported from Africa for the Irish Times and other papers, and was Middle East correspondent for the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

From Booklist:

Irish journalist Owen Simmons is back at his newspaper in Dublin, comfortably doing as little work as possible, when he happens upon a photograph of himself taken when he was a foreign correspondent in Africa in the wake of the Rwandan genocide. The photo inspires an extended flashback that makes up the bulk of this polished first novel. The narrative tone seems oddly matter of fact, but readers will surmise that correspondents become somewhat desensitized to the horrors of corpses lining roads for miles, epidemics, and orphaned children. But O’Loughlin also recalls a harsh ethical argument about whether correspondents should help an elderly woman bury her grandchild. He also shows them dashing back to their comfortable hotels to file their stories and get on to dinner, drinks, and trading rumors. The author, who covered Africa for the Irish Times, set himself a lofty goal, and he largely achieves it: Not Untrue & Not Unkind, already released in England, was long-listed for the Man Booker Prize, and it vividly re-creates the life of a foreign correspondent. --Thomas Gaughan

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Ireland
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0141038063
• ISBN 13: 9780141038063
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288