The International - Softcover

Patterson, Glenn

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0771071116 ISBN 13: 9780771071119

Publisher: Emblem Editions, 2011

Synopsis

Acclaimed Belfast novelist Glenn Patterson's classic novel of a day in the life in that city: a funny, brilliantly observed, bittersweet snapshot of a moment in 1967 just before everything changed.

"If I had known history was to be written that Sunday in the International Hotel I might have made an effort to get out of bed before teatime."

So begins The International. Danny Hamilton takes us back over three troubled decades to one wonderfully ordinary Saturday, in January 1967, when his 18-year-old self had no idea — most people had no idea — that ordinary days in Belfast would soon become tragically rare. Ordinary, but packed with extraordinarily observed characters; and extraordinary enough for Danny to fall in love twice (and think about sex a few more times than that). Ordinary, but when someone calls out "Be careful" in parting, no one takes it lightly and for good reason.

First published in the UK in 1999, and reissued by Blackstaff in 2008, The International is a timeless novel: funny, bawdy, deftly crafted, and heartwrenchingly humane.

Featuring an essay “On Reading The International” by Man Booker-Prize winner Anne Enright

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

January 1967. An ordinary Saturday in the Blue Bar of the International Hotel in Belfast. While 18-year-old Danny pulls pints, he contemplates his future and the bar's varied clientele. But ordinary Saturdays like this are almost over. On the next day the hotel will host the inaugural meeting of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association, and the slide towards the troubles will begin.

From the Back Cover:

"Quirky, tragi-comic, bittersweet--a day in the life of a city observed from one man's particular angle, and made all the more poignant because we know that it is going to end in nightmare." --The Times

About this edition

• Publisher: Emblem Editions
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0771071116
• ISBN 13: 9780771071119
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 272