Troubles (Flamingo)

J.G. Farrell was born in England and moved to Ireland around the age of twelve. Often mistaken for an Irish-born writer, this is mainly because ‘Troubles’, the first book of his ‘Empire Trilogy’ (also including ‘The Siege of Krishnapur’ and ‘The Singapore Grip’) takes a comical yet political and personal look at the realities of the Irish fight for independence against the might of the British Empire. A listener follows Brendan Archer, a Major in the British Army, to County Wicklow in Ireland, where he is supposed to meet the woman he thinks that he will marry. When his plans do not turn out quite as he imagined, he decides to stay on at 'The Majestic' - a crumbling coastal hotel - which holds a strange charm and many, often amusing, eccentric inhabitants. Made into a film for television in 1988, ‘Troubles’ is an involving and interesting listen, both touching and enthralling.

J.G. Farrell (1935-79) is an English-born novelist of Irish descent. Troubles won the Lost Man Booker Prize in 2010, while another of his novels, The Siege of Krishnapur, won the 1973 Booker Prize.