We are delighted to announce the forthcoming publication of The China Factory by Mary Costello.
Publication date: May 3rd 2012
ISBN: 9781906539214
Price: €12.99
An elderly schoolteacher recalls the single act of youthful passion that changed her life forever; a young gardener has an unsettling encounter with a suburban housewife; a wife who miscalculated the guarantees of marriage embarks upon an online affair. And in the title story a teenage girl strikes up an unlikely friendship with a lonely bachelor.
Love, loss, betrayal. Grief, guilt, longing. The act of grace or forgiveness that can suddenly transform and redeem lives. In these twelve haunting stories Mary Costello carefully examines the passions and perils of everyday life and relationships and, with startling insight, casts a light on the darkest corners of the human heart.
What emerges is a compassionate exploration of how ordinary men and women endure the trials and complexities of marriage, memory, adultery, death, and the ripples of disquiet that lie just beneath the surface. With a calm intensity and an undertow of sadness, she reveals the secret fears and yearnings of her characters, and those isolated moments when a few words or a small deed can change everything, with stark and sometimes brutal consequences.
Mary Costello is originally from East Galway and now lives in Dublin. Her stories have been anthologised and published in New Irish Writing and in The Stinging Fly. This is her first book of stories. Mary’s story, ‘The Sewing Room’, which is from the collection, is published in our current issue.
The China Factory will be available in shops from April 17th. Copies ordered from our website will be sent out on April 10th.
Launch Notice
To help us celebrate the publication, please join us for the following two launches:
Saturday, April 28 – The Town Hall Theatre, Galway, as part of the Cúirt Festival -12 noon
Thursday, May 3 – The Irish Writers’ Centre, Dublin – 7pm
Reading at the Irish Writers’ Centre
Mary will read at the Writers’ Centre on Friday, March 23 at 1pm as part of their lunchtime readings series. Admission is free, all are welcome.