Listen to a sample
The Black Snow
- Author
- Paul Lynch
- Narrator
- John Keating
- Publisher
- Hachette Audio
- Publish Date
- 12 May 2015
- Run Time
- 9 hours 11 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
What to expect
In Donegal in the spring of 1945, a farmhand runs into a burning barn and does not come out alive. The farm's owner, Barnabas Kane, can only look on as his friend dies and all 43 of his cattle are destroyed in the blaze. Following the disaster, the bull-headed and proudly self-sufficient Barnabas is forced to reach out to the community for assistance.
But resentment simmers over the farmhand's death, and Barnabas and his family begin to believe their efforts at recovery are being sabotaged. Barnabas is determined to hold firm. Yet his teenage son struggles under the weight of a terrible secret, and his wife is suffocated by the uncertainty surrounding their future. As Barnabas fights ever harder for what is rightfully his, his loved ones are drawn ever closer to a fate that should never have been theirs. In The Black Snow, Paul Lynch takes the pastoral novel and -- with the calmest of hands -- tears it apart. With beautiful, haunting prose, Lynch illuminates what it means to live through crisis, and puts to the test our deepest certainties about humankind.
Critics Review
-
"A novel in which sentence after sentence comes so beautifully alive in all the fullness of its diction and meaning that most other contemporary Irish fiction looks sheepish by comparison. Lynch's language is rough-hewn and yet beautifully lyrical....I could scarcely read more than a few pages at a time without having to stop and contemplate quitting the writing of fiction myself."
—Alan Cheuse, NPR -
"The Black Snow is a staggeringly beautiful book. Immensely powerful, but subtly so. I was mesmerized by it. I read it in one go, but I'll go back to it for sure."
--Kevin Powers, author of The Yellow Birds and Letter Composed During a Lull in the Fighting -
"A brilliant, hypnotic book. You will lose yourself in the sounds and rhythms-Lynch makes the page sing like the old masters."
--Philipp Meyer, author of The Son -
"A stunning tale of retribution and disintegration.... at once so starkly brutal and so beautiful that it is impossible to look away."
-Booklist
See more reviews See fewer reviews
-
"A haunting novel from a writer with a gift for language and character.... Lynch has a Seamus Heaney ear for the sights and sounds of rural life." --Kirkus Reviews
-
"Lynch establishes himself as one of his generation's very finest novelists. The Black Snow is a dark, mesmerizing study in obsession, despair, and secrets too long held."
--Ron Rash, author of The Cove -
"Lynch's beautifully intertwined emotional and physical landscapes have a timelessness.... The story gathers momentum scene by scene."
--Publishers Weekly -
"Some of the most beautiful writing I have ever read. Vivid, unsettling and intensely enjoyable."—Donal Ryan, Booker-nominated author of The Spinning Heart
-
PRAISE FOR RED SKY IN MORNING:
"Paul Lynch has a sensational gift for a sentence, inherited from the likes of Cormac McCarthy, Sebastian Barry and Daniel Woodrell. He is a writer to watch out for, staking a bid for a territory all his own."—Colum McCann
User Reviews
No reviews yet.
Details
- Author
- Paul Lynch
- Narrator
- John Keating
- Duration
- 9 hours 11 minutes
- Release Date
- 12 May 2015
- ISBN
- 9781478955306
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Hachette Audio
- Genre
- Historical fiction, Fiction: general and literary, Narrative theme: Interior life
Synopsis
The startling novel from a brilliant young Irish novelist on the rise, who "has a sensational gift for a sentence" (Colum McCann on Red Sky in Morning). In Donegal in the spring of 1945, a farmhand runs into a burning barn and does not come out alive. The farm's owner, Barnabas Kane, can only look on as his friend dies and all 43 of his cattle are destroyed in the blaze. Following the disaster, the bull-headed and proudly self-sufficient Barnabas is forced to reach out to the community for assistance. But resentment simmers over the farmhand's death, and Barnabas and his family begin to believe their efforts at recovery are being sabotaged. Barnabas is determined to hold firm. Yet his teenage son struggles under the weight of a terrible secret, and his wife is suffocated by the uncertainty surrounding their future. As Barnabas fights ever harder for what is rightfully his, his loved ones are drawn ever closer to a fate that should never have been theirs. In The Black Snow, Paul Lynch takes the pastoral novel and -- with the calmest of hands -- tears it apart. With beautiful, haunting prose, Lynch illuminates what it means to live through crisis, and puts to the test our deepest certainties about humankind.
About xigxag
xigxag is an independent, UK-based audiobook platform and the UK's only B Corp certified audiobook company. We offer nearly 150,000 audiobooks, all with professional human narration. No AI-generated voices. xigxag is rated an Ethical Consumer Best Buy for audiobooks and a top-rated ethical bookshop.
There is no subscription. You buy the audiobooks you want, you own them permanently, and prices start at $13.95. The more you listen over the year, the less you pay per book, and there is always a selection in Listen for Less from $7.95. You can also send audiobooks as gifts using our audiobook gift cards or in-app gifting.
Every audiobook on xigxag has honest reviews covering both the book and the narration, and our community features make it easy to share what you are listening to, discover what others recommend, and find your next listen.
Download or stream on iOS, Android, or in your browser. Browse the full catalogue at xigxag.co.uk.