The Little Red Chairs

By: Edna O'Brien

Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson

A fiercely beautiful novel about one woman's struggle to reclaim a life shattered by betrayal from the 2018 winner of the PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature.

One night, in the dead of winter, a mysterious stranger arrives in the small Irish town of Cloonoila. Broodingly handsome, worldly, and charismatic, Dr. Vladimir Dragan is a poet, a self-proclaimed holistic healer, and a welcome disruption to the monotony of village life. Before long, the beautiful black-haired Fidelma McBride falls under his spell and, defying the shackles of wedlock and convention, turns to him to cure her of her deepest pains.

Then, one morning, the illusion is abruptly shattered. While en route to pay tribute at Yeats's grave, Dr. Vlad is arrested and revealed to be a notorious war criminal and mass murderer. The Cloonoila community is devastated by this revelation, and no one more than Fidelma, who is made to pay for her deviance and desire. In disgrace and utterly alone, she embarks on a journey that will bring both profound hardship and, ultimately, the prospect of redemption.

Moving from Ireland to London and then to The Hague, The Little Red Chairs is Edna O'Brien's first novel in ten years -- a vivid and unflinching exploration of humanity's capacity for evil and artifice as well as the bravest kind of love.

Critic reviews

"The great Edna O'Brien has written her masterpiece."—Philip Roth

"The Little Red Chairs is a daring invention set at the bloody crossroads where worlds collide: savage, tender and true."—John Banville

A wonderful book

This book is wonderful and the narration is amazing. A long ride but well worth the journey

Beautiful writing, beautiful narrating

First, the narration was perfect. I think the narrator's voice is my favorite that I've listened to. Second, the writing is beautiful, but sometimes the plot was jarring. At times I even checked to make sure I hadn't skipped chapters accidentally. Some of the characters felt a little shallowly developed. I found myself wishing for more information and more development of the relationship between Vlad and Fidelma. I had a hard time understanding how she could make some of the decisions she had, so quickly. It seemed like a lost opportunity that their relationship was glazed over. Then as I listened I understood; that was not the point of the story. This is not a love story and it certainly wasn't about the love affair. In my summation it's about how people deal with, or don't deal with, grief and trauma and the implications of that choice. There are many themes and topics that are intensely interesting and heartbreaking. This book was picked for a book club and I can't wait to discuss it.

excellent

fabulous narration, wonderful variation of character voices. great story. memorable characters in beautifully detailed settings.

Red, as Scarlet, as Enraging, as Bloody

You live in a quaint, if a little busybody, Irish hamlet, a beauty swept off her feet by a much older man, marrying in your well-earned white dress. 15, 20 years pass, your life is humdrum, sort of nice with your much older husband but your clock is ticking and his dock ain't kicking.

A very distinguished, intriguing, attractive foreign (perhaps Russian) doctor/chiropractor in his early 40s moves into town, renting a room near your art shop. He subtly suggests that you look like you need a lover. Your biological clock starts to wind in the corner of your mind, and you seek a child with this man, a child your husband cannot give you.

Weeks/months pass by and you become pregnant despite knowing now of a few negative character traits. One day government agents blow into this little village to make a highly publicized arrest of the most wanted Serbian war criminal (think, Milosevic, Karadzic).

PapaDaddy is, as it turns out, the Prince of Darkness, Beëlzebub in the body, Father of Lies in the flesh, Author of Evil, the Old Serpent.

The novel blasts with double-barrels, driven by morally difficult questions and, to my mind, unloading on some leaders in the Catholic Church as, at best, judgmental and indifferent to humanity and not at all worthy of reflecting the Redeemer, or, worse, complicit in abetting such a monstrous castigation that even Lucifer would have to look away. Ms. O'Brien has never shied away from criticizing or offending the Catholic Church of her Ireland.

Warning: this book contains one of the most diabolical and horrendous acts of sexual violence against a female in all literature, at least that I've read.

Superb narration of multi-cultural characters

While remaining firmly rooted in the lives of main characters, this novel explores grand questions of the nature of evil and put global interventions