The Ante-Room

Book excerpt: AN AWARD-WINNING AND REMARKABLE IRISH NOVELIST 'A grave and beautiful story, exquisitely composed and cut to a jewel-like fineness' DAILY TELEGRAPH 'Rush out for the works of Kate O'Brien. You are in for a treat' VAL HENNESSY 'A gem of a novel' TAMSIN HARGREAVES Ireland, 1880 and a prosperous, provincial family observes the three great autumnal feasts of the Church. As Teresa Mulqueen lies dying, her family gather round her and beneath this drama another, no less poignant, unfolds. Unmarried daughter Agnes awaits the return of her sister Marie-Rose and brother-in-law Vincent. She adores her sister, but secretly, passionately, loves Vincent. And their marriage, she knows, is unhappy . . . Ahead lies a terrible battle between her uncompromising faith and the intensity of her love. In this delicately imagined novel, originally published in 1934, Kate O'Brien lays bare the struggles between personal need and the Catholic faith with the sympathy and insight which is the hallmark of her craft.