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Reading Circle 94: ‚Prophet Song‘ by Paul Lynch
Details für die Sendung am 2026-03-03 von 20:00 bis 20:30
‘Prophet Song’ by Paul Lynch, winner of the Booker Prize for 2023, is the novel we are introducing this month.
„In the dark times/ Will there also be singing?/ Yes, there will also be singing./ About the dark times.”
That quotation from Bertolt Brecht anticipates the grim darkness that pervades this extraordinary book.
The title of the book only becomes clear towards the end: What is sung by the prophets is but the same song sung across time…the world devoured by fire….the world cast in darkness…..
So, the book comes full circle back to the initial quotation from the Bible.
Wikipedia tells us that Paul Lynch is an Irish novelist known for his poetical, lyrical style and exploration of complex themes. He was born in south-west Ireland but brought up in Ulster. He read English and Philosophy at University College, Dublin (UCD), but did not graduate. He is a longtime resident of Dublin, where he was formerly both deputy chief sub-editor and chief film critic for The Sunday Tribune, before he turned to writing fiction.
What’s the book about? The publisher’s description reads:
On a dark, wet evening in Dublin, scientist and mother-of-four Eilish Stack answers her front door to find the GNSB – the Garda National Services Bureau – on her step. Two officers from Ireland’s newly-formed secret police want to interrogate her husband, Larry, a trade unionist representing teachers.
Ireland is falling apart. For two years the country has been in the grip of a government formed by the right-wing NAP (the National Alliance Party). Ireland is slipping, sliding under an authoritarian regime. When her husband disappears, Eilish finds herself caught within the nightmare logic of a society that is quickly unravelling and even collapsing. Soon, she must decide just how far she is willing to go to keep her family safe.
Reading Circle members’ book recommendations for this month.
· Julian Barnes Departures (2026). His last book, exploring themes of aging, memory and death, a hybrid of fiction, essay and autobiography.
· Ayobami Adebayo A Spell of Good Things (2023) . About contemporary Nigeria, exploring the stark divide between the privileged and underprivileged, highlighting the shared humanity that connects them all. Nominated for the Booker Prize 2023
· Ethan Hawke. A Bright Ray of Darkness (2022). Semi-autobiographical novel from this American actor. The blistering story of a young man making his Broadway debut in Henry IV just as his marriage implodes. A witty, wise and heartfelt novel about art and love, fame and heartbreak. (Washington Post)
· Anna Seghers. Transit (1944). Marseilles 1940: A mousetrap of administrative absurdity and corruption. An existential, political and literary thriller about storytelling, boredom and exile.
· Anne Berest. The Postcard (2021 in French, 2023 in English translation). The role of France in the Jewish question, based on the lives of real people and historical events.
Do join us again next month, when we will be introducing Free: Coming of Age at the End of History by Lea Ypi, published in 2021. In the book Ypi details her experience growing up before and after the fall of communism in Albania. It was shortlisted for the 2021 Baillie Gifford Prize and the 2021 Costa Book Award for Biography.
Reviews
This stylistically elegant and thought-provoking book is a significant contribution to understanding a period of transition still left under explored… Andi Haxhiu (London School of Economics)
Lea Ypi’s memoir vividly portrays the confusions of childhood and adolescence among the lies, surreal oddity and dangers that she experienced under the strict rule of communist Albania and the chaos after 1990…….a moving personal narrative, a fascinating portrait of Albania and a profoundly valuable analysis of what it is to be free. Johnny de Falbe, Prize Judge, www.Foxedquarterly.com
Music Played
Renegade by Steppenwolf, tells the story of group member John Kay’s escape with this mother from East Germany to West Germany in the late 1940’s.
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By FREIRADDetails für die Sendung am 2026-03-03 von 20:00 bis 20:30
‘Prophet Song’ by Paul Lynch, winner of the Booker Prize for 2023, is the novel we are introducing this month.
„In the dark times/ Will there also be singing?/ Yes, there will also be singing./ About the dark times.”
That quotation from Bertolt Brecht anticipates the grim darkness that pervades this extraordinary book.
The title of the book only becomes clear towards the end: What is sung by the prophets is but the same song sung across time…the world devoured by fire….the world cast in darkness…..
So, the book comes full circle back to the initial quotation from the Bible.
Wikipedia tells us that Paul Lynch is an Irish novelist known for his poetical, lyrical style and exploration of complex themes. He was born in south-west Ireland but brought up in Ulster. He read English and Philosophy at University College, Dublin (UCD), but did not graduate. He is a longtime resident of Dublin, where he was formerly both deputy chief sub-editor and chief film critic for The Sunday Tribune, before he turned to writing fiction.
What’s the book about? The publisher’s description reads:
On a dark, wet evening in Dublin, scientist and mother-of-four Eilish Stack answers her front door to find the GNSB – the Garda National Services Bureau – on her step. Two officers from Ireland’s newly-formed secret police want to interrogate her husband, Larry, a trade unionist representing teachers.
Ireland is falling apart. For two years the country has been in the grip of a government formed by the right-wing NAP (the National Alliance Party). Ireland is slipping, sliding under an authoritarian regime. When her husband disappears, Eilish finds herself caught within the nightmare logic of a society that is quickly unravelling and even collapsing. Soon, she must decide just how far she is willing to go to keep her family safe.
Reading Circle members’ book recommendations for this month.
· Julian Barnes Departures (2026). His last book, exploring themes of aging, memory and death, a hybrid of fiction, essay and autobiography.
· Ayobami Adebayo A Spell of Good Things (2023) . About contemporary Nigeria, exploring the stark divide between the privileged and underprivileged, highlighting the shared humanity that connects them all. Nominated for the Booker Prize 2023
· Ethan Hawke. A Bright Ray of Darkness (2022). Semi-autobiographical novel from this American actor. The blistering story of a young man making his Broadway debut in Henry IV just as his marriage implodes. A witty, wise and heartfelt novel about art and love, fame and heartbreak. (Washington Post)
· Anna Seghers. Transit (1944). Marseilles 1940: A mousetrap of administrative absurdity and corruption. An existential, political and literary thriller about storytelling, boredom and exile.
· Anne Berest. The Postcard (2021 in French, 2023 in English translation). The role of France in the Jewish question, based on the lives of real people and historical events.
Do join us again next month, when we will be introducing Free: Coming of Age at the End of History by Lea Ypi, published in 2021. In the book Ypi details her experience growing up before and after the fall of communism in Albania. It was shortlisted for the 2021 Baillie Gifford Prize and the 2021 Costa Book Award for Biography.
Reviews
This stylistically elegant and thought-provoking book is a significant contribution to understanding a period of transition still left under explored… Andi Haxhiu (London School of Economics)
Lea Ypi’s memoir vividly portrays the confusions of childhood and adolescence among the lies, surreal oddity and dangers that she experienced under the strict rule of communist Albania and the chaos after 1990…….a moving personal narrative, a fascinating portrait of Albania and a profoundly valuable analysis of what it is to be free. Johnny de Falbe, Prize Judge, www.Foxedquarterly.com
Music Played
Renegade by Steppenwolf, tells the story of group member John Kay’s escape with this mother from East Germany to West Germany in the late 1940’s.