Most Popular Books by John Banville

When the body of his daughter’s friend is brought to his autopsy table, Quirke is plunged into a world of corruption that takes him to the darkest corners of the Catholic Church, in one of The Wall Street Journal’s “Ten Best Mysteries of the Year.” 1950s Dublin. A battered body discovered floating in a canal is quickly identified as Jimmy Minor, an up-and-coming investigative journalist for the Clarion and a good friend to Phoebe, the daughter of pathologist Quirke. Determined to find Jimmy’s killer, Quirke enlists his sometime partner, Inspector Hackett. As they dig deeper into the stories Jimmy was pursuing and the secrets he was poised to reveal, and Quirke is haunted by the memories of his own grim childhood in a priest-run orphanage, the two men will see just how far the Church and its supporters will go to protect their own interests.

*NATIONAL BESTSELLER* A New York Times Editors'' Choice Booker Prize winner and “Irish master” (The New Yorker) John Banville’s most ambitious crime novel yet brings two detectives together to solve a globe-spanning mystery In 1950s Dublin, Rosa Jacobs, a young history scholar, is found dead in her car. Renowned pathologist Dr. Quirke and DI St. John Strafford begin to investigate the death as a murder, but it’s the victim’s older sister Molly, an established journalist, who discovers a lead that could crack open the case. One of Rosa’s friends, it turns out, is from a powerful German family that arrived in Ireland under mysterious circumstances shortly after World War II. But as Quirke and Strafford close in, their personal lives may put the case—and everyone involved—in peril, including Quirke’s own daughter. Spanning the mountaintops of Italy, the front lines of World War II Bavaria, the gritty streets of Dublin and other unexpected locales, The Lock-Up is an ambitious and arresting mystery by one of the world’s most celebrated authors.

''They took everything from me. Everything.'' So says the central character of Nightspawn, John Banville''s elusive, first novel, in which the author rehearses now familiar attributes: his humour, ironies, and brilliant knowing. In the arid setting of the Aegean, Ben White indulges in an obsessive quest to assemble his ''story'' and to untangle his relationships with a cast of improbable figures. Banville''s subversive, Beckettian fiction embraces themes of freedom and betrayal, and toys with an implausible plot, the stuff of an ordinary ''thriller'' shadowed by political intrigue. In this elaborate artifact, Banville''s characters ''sometimes lose the meaning of things, and everything is just ... funny''. There begins their search for ''the magic to combat any force''.-

The first of John Banville’s Cleave Trilogy, concerning father and daughter Alexander and Cass Cleave, Eclipse is a lyrical exploration of memory, family and identity. Alexander Cleave, actor, has left his career and his family behind and banished himself to his childhood home. He wants to retire from life, but finds this impossible in a house brimming with presences, some ghostly, some undeniably human. Memories and anxiety for the future, and more particularly for his beloved but troubled daughter, conspire to distract him from his dreaming retirement. This humane and beautifully written story tells the tragic tale of a man, intelligent, preposterous and vulnerable, who in attempting to bring the performance to a close finds himself travelling inevitably towards a devastating denouement. ‘This unsparing, compassionate, humane book demonstrates again that Banville is in a class of his own’ – The Spectator Now part of the Picador Collection, a series showcasing the very best of modern literature.

Una de las primeras novelas del Man Booker Prize y Príncipe de Asturias de las Letras John Banville, en la que indaga sobre la memoria, la familia y el fin de la inocencia. Novela galardonada con el Allied Irish Bank''s Prize y el Irish Arts Council Macaulay Fellowship. « Existo, luego pienso. Eso parece innegable. En esta casa desmadrada dedico las noches a devanar mis recuerdos. » Cuando Gabriel Godkin regresa a Birchwood tras varios años, la gran casa familiar no es más que una propiedad ruinosa con habitantes enajenados. Hurgando en los recuerdos, rememora sus primeras experiencias de amor y de pérdida, pero los desastres se suceden y el joven decide huir con un circo ambulante para buscar a su hermana gemela, desaparecida tiempo atrás. Pronto descubrirá que el hambre y el malestar acechan el campo y que Irlanda también está arruinada. La crítica ha dicho sobre la obra... « Regreso a Birchwood representa un punto de inflexión en la literatura irlandesa contemporánea: es una novela en la que la historia se convierte en una divertida comedia negra repleta de alborotos rurales y de personajes góticos, y un sentido de desconcierto hacia la naturaleza del universo llena sus páginas.» Colm Tóibín « Birchwood es una de las más deslumbrantes hazañas de la literatura irlandesa en lo que va de siglo.» Seamus Deane « Regreso a Birchwood cuenta la vuelta de Gabriel Godkin a casa, bajo ese pretexto la novela reflexiona sobre los recuerdos, la distorsión de los mismos y la vida, el amor y la pérdida; de los recuerdos como reflejos de la luz bajo el agua en movimiento. [...] Elegancia, sutileza, profundidad, poesía y un tempo único en John Banville.» Huffington Post «Una divertida comedia negra repleta de personajes góticos.» Miren Artetxe, Gara Zazpika Sobre el autor... «El mejor escritor en activo en su idioma y, si hay justicia, Nobel cercano... Pericia y elegancia... Leemos a Banville para recordar qué era eso de leer.» Rodrigo Fresán, ABCultural «El más respetado de los escritores irlandeses, el mayor estilista en lengua inglesa.» Elena Hevia, El Periódico de Cataluña «John Banville, recurrente candidato al Nobel, se mueve en terrenos proustianos y nabokovianos armado con un arma definitiva: el estilo.» Nadal Suau, El Cultural «No hay truco que valga. Banville es puro arte.» Inés Martín Rodrigo, ABC «A las palabras, John Banville, autor insólito, sugerente, les saca brillo.» Jesús Ruiz Mantilla, El País «La grandeza de Banville reside en su prosa límpida, armada frase a frase con maneras de orfebre.» Javier Aparicio Maydeu, Babelia «Solo unos pocos escritores son auténticos estilistas, capaces de encandilar al lector con palabras mágicas. Entre estos pocos bendecidos, en diferentes modos, se encuentran Fitzgerald, Updike, Styron, Capote y Chandler. Y también el novelista irlandés John Banville es miembro de la fraternidad.» Washington Post Review «Lo que define y deleita es la prosa y voz narrativa de Banville: acaso la mejor y más exquisita entre los escritores británicos en activo.» Rodrigo Fresán, Vanity Fair

A bizarre suicide leads to a scandal and then still more blood, as one of our most brilliant crime novelists reveals a world where money and sex trump everything It''s a fine day for a sail, and Victor Delahaye, one of Ireland''s most successful businessmen, takes his boat far out to sea. With him is his partner''s son—who becomes the sole witness when Delahaye produces a pistol, points it at his own chest, and fires. This mysterious death immediately engages the attention of Detective Inspector Hackett, who in turn calls upon the services of his sometime partner Quirke, consultant pathologist at the Hospital of the Holy Family. The stakes are high: Delahaye''s prominence in business circles means that Hackett and Quirke must proceed very carefully. Among others, they interview Mona Delahaye, the dead man''s young and very beautiful wife; James and Jonas Delahaye, his identical twin sons; and Jack Clancy, his ambitious, womanizing partner. But then a second death occurs, this one even more shocking than the first, and quickly it becomes apparent that a terrible secret threatens to destroy the lives and reputations of several members of Dublin''s elite. Why did Victor Delahaye kill himself, and who is intent upon wreaking vengeance on so many of those who knew him?

Offers a panoramic study of the city of Prague, describing its rich and varied history from the medieval period to the present day, the colorful people who shaped it, and its new place amid the changing world of post-Cold War Europe.

Aan de idyllische kust van de Spaanse stad San Sebastian kan patholoog Quirke maar moeilijk rust vinden, ondanks de stranden, de cafés en het gezelschap van zijn ontwapenend liefdevolle vrouw. Wanneer hij in een bar een bekend gezicht denkt te zien, denkt hij dat zijn verbeelding met hem aan de loop is gegaan. Deze jonge vrouw kán niet April Latimer zijn. Zij werd immers jaren geleden door haar broer vermoord – zo was de conclusie van een geruchtmakende zaak die de Ierse politieke verhoudingen op hun grondvesten had laten schudden. Niet in staat de kwestie uit zijn hoofd te zetten, belt Quirke naar Ierland, en al snel wordt rechercheur St. John Strafford naar Spanje gezonden. Maar Strafford is niet de enige die op pad gaat. Een meedogenloze huurmoordenaar jaagt op zijn nieuwste prooi, en zijn slachtoffer zou weleens Quirke zelf kunnen zijn.

Morrow ist kein unbeschriebenes Blatt. Er hat im Gefängnis gesessen, war gewalttätig, hat Frau und Kinder verloren. Nun hat er seinen Namen geändert, wie schon häufiger. Geldsorgen hat er keine mehr seit ihm Tante Corky ihr gesamtes Vermögen hinterlassen, nachdem er sie in den letzten Wochen bei sich aufgenommen hatte. Tante Corky war nicht seine richtige Tante, und Morrow weiß nicht, wer sie wirklich war, welche ihrer Geschichten der Wahrheit entsprechen. Doch eigentlich drehen sich seine Gedanken nur um seine Geliebte A., die er eines Tages kennen gelernt hatte, die ihn mitnahm in Mordens Haus. Eine Frau, der er mit jeder Faser verfiel, und deren Geheimnis er noch imer nicht zu lüften vermag. Morden hatte ihn in dieses Haus geholt, um Gutachten abzugeben über einige Bilder niederländischer Maler zu klassifizieren. Bilder, die gestohlen waren, wie er später erfährt. Morrow wird in einen Sumpf hineingezogen, aus dem er sich nicht befreien kann. Jetzt, da alles zu spät ist, versucht er zu rekapitulieren, was passiert ist. Und er sucht weiter nach A.. »Schreib mir«, hatte sie ihm beim Abschied gesagt, ohne eine Adresse zu hinterlassen. Und Morrow schreibt.

" Neige sur Ballyglass House est certainement l''un des meilleurs romans noirs de John Banville, et l''un des meilleurs romans noirs jamais écrits. " The Globe and Mail Irlande, 1957. Après la découverte du cadavre émasculé d''un prêtre très respecté dans la majestueuse bibliothèque de Ballyglass House – le manoir de l''énigmatique famille Osborne –, le Detective Inspector Strafford, prénom Saint John (à prononcer " Sinjun "), est appelé de Dublin pour enquêter. Alors que la neige tombe sans discontinuer sur la campagne irlandaise, Saint John, un protestant dégingandé loin des clichés de la profession, est bien déterminé à lever le voile sur cette affaire. Mais c''est compter sans les habitants de Ballyglass House et des alentours, prêts à tout pour protéger leurs – nombreux – secrets. Un cadavre dans la bibliothèque, des personnages hauts en couleur, un soupçon de cynisme et une plume d''une grande qualité littéraire : tout est réuni pour faire de Neige sur Ballyglass House un incontournable du genre. " Banville reprend les codes d''un Agatha Christie avant de les faire voler en éclats d''une main de maître. " The New York Times Book Review

This is the book John Banville was born to write'' Catherine Lockerbie, Scotsman