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Barbara is an award-winning bookseller who has a special interest in fiction, especially Australian fiction and children’s books for all ages.
Irish author Mary Costello has previously written a collection of short stories. Academy Street is her first novel. Its strength is in the understatement of the characters, especially Tess. J.M. Coetzee has commented "With extraordinary devotion, Mary Costello brings to life a woman who would otherwise have faded into oblivion". She began life in rural Ireland in the 1940's and the novel spans her journey through to New York in the beginning of a new century. As you read Academy Street your empathy for Tess grows and you want to be with her to support her through some very fateful periods in her life. Academy Street would be a perfect novel to discuss in a book group in tandem with Colm Toibin's Nora Webster. I can't wait for Mary's next novel, she is an author to add to my list of promising novelists to watch in the future.
