The Chosen

Milsons Point, N.S.W: Vintage, 1998. Australian Author. Used. Now she seems like a musical note which has escaped into the air that is the river of all music. At night he goes into the dark, looks up at distant stars, miserable that knowledge has robbed us of the old certainties. Once we had souls, and souls went 'up there' when we died. Now we have nothing, no souls, no destination, just an arithmetic of meaningless distances. An artist is commissioned to weave a tapestry for the council chamber of the town of Lost River. For this task he must hear the stories of a random selection of the townsfolk - fifty-two in all, one for each week of the year - to discern the gestures by which he might define their lives. Their portraits represent an odyssey through humankind - the saintly, the insane, the larrikin, the prophet, the murdered, the murderer, the mindless materialist and the rich in spirit...people who ave caught a glimpse of something strange, perhaps the borders of a world behind everyday. His subjects are haunted by the death of one of their number in mysterious circumstances, while the artist is haunted by thoughts of Yarrow, the woman he loves but who is lost to him. Every page of this book offers a quotable gem, the most profound insights into the social, political, sexual, spiritual and humorous aspects of us all. This is vintage Ireland, possibly his best yet. Some quotes on The Chosen: 'Ireland's brillaint new novel is a dazzling kaleidescope of ordinary and extraordinary Australians that again shows his work is at the peak of contemporary Australian writing.' HELEN DANIEL 'This is essentially a novel of ideas, a candid view of the general malaise that is Western culture at the end of the 20th century...beneath the vivacity, the brightness with words, the comic pace and tempo, this is a disturbing book and one I suspect is portentious' MARTIN FLANAGAN, THE AGE 'As the tapestry takes shape, the stories of lust, malice, hope, love and of yearning for other worlds form kaleidescope patterns. There are unexpected and rewarding depths in Ireland's exploration of the searching heart and the interconeections of people and places. The Chosen is a novel to savour.' PATRICIA ROLFE, THE BULLETIN