Who is Lilly Bere?
Earlier this month we posted a great Q & A with Sebastian Barry, author of the Booker longlisted On Canaan’s Side, and his Faber editor, Angus Cargill. Now we have a couple of films of the author himself, filmed at his home in County Wicklow, Ireland.
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Narrated by Lilly Bere, On Canaan’s Side opens as she mourns the loss of her grandson, Bill. The story then goes back to the moment she was forced to flee Dublin, at the end of the First World War, and follows her life through into the new world of America, a world filled with both hope and danger.
At once epic and intimate, Lilly’s narrative unfurls as she tries to make sense of the sorrows and troubles of her life and of the people whose lives she has touched. Spanning nearly seven decades, it is a novel of memory, war, family-ties and love, which once again displays Sebastian Barry’s exquisite prose and gift for storytelling.
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In the first video, Sebastian Barry tells us more about the plight of Lilly Bere and the Dunnes and the book in general. Then in the second he reads from the novel, bringing the text to life in a way that few other novelists can.
Sebastian Barry Discusses ‘On Canaan’s Side’ from FaberBooks on Vimeo.
Sebastian Barry Reads from ‘On Canaan’s Side’ from FaberBooks on Vimeo.
