About the Author

Josephine Hart is the best-selling author of Damage, Sin, Oblivion, The Stillest Day, and The Reconstructionist. Her work has been translated into twenty-seven languages. She lives in London with her husband, Maurice Saatchi, and their two sons.

Reviews

“[A] compelling look at family and memory, despair and redemption. . . . Passionate and heart-felt.” —The Wall Street Journal

“A quiet masterpiece. . . . It is hard not to go hurtling through this book, with its controlled yet vast embrace of all that is terrifying about living.” —New York Post

“Sophisticated. . . . Hart shows how love of family and love of country can feed from each other.” —The New York Times Book Review
 
“An ambitious and poetic weaving of a long-ago family tragedy into the tragic history, and histories, of our time. Josephine Hart has come home in triumph.” —John Banville

“In this compelling and remarkable book, Hart has written a moving lament for exile. . . . A tour de force. . . . There are echoes of Beckett and Joyce in Hart’s writing.” —The  Times Literary Supplement (London)
 
“Deeply moving. . . . [The Truth About Love] packs a punch far beyond its size. . . . An uncompromising tale that explores grief, redemption, and misery.” —Irish Independent
 
“A bleak tale, beautifully told, about the burden we must all, as human beings, survive.” —The Times (London)
 
“Hart’s dialogue is extraordinary, blending poetry and naturalism like the great Irish playwrights.” —The Independent (London)
 
“A brave novel. . . . Hart’s [characters] live beyond the confines of even her fiery and elegant prose.” —The Guardian (London)
 
“[The Truth About Love] embraces themes of heart, soul, pride and shame of country, guilt and memory, emphasizing that the past will not be ignored. . . . Its universal themes will resonate with readers, underscoring that losses are unavoidable for those who love, and enduring is not easy, but that is part of living.” —Las Vegas Review-Journal
 
“A genuine, deeply felt story of love and loss.” —Daily Mail

Hart's previous five novels (Damage; Sin) addressed the disturbing power of love, and in her latest, she returns to the topic with mixed success. Hart opens with the stream-of-consciousness narration of a teenage boy's fatal accident in 1962 Ireland before shifting to the precise, nearly stifling voice of Thomas Middlehoff (aka "The German") at the funeral. Distant and polite, Thomas orbits ever closer to the beleaguered O'Hara family: the boy's father, Tom, wants to buy a family heirloom from Thomas; he bumps into Olivia, the boy's sister, with his car (she sustains scrapes and bruises); and the boy's mother, Sissy, exposes her deep grief to him, spurring him into contemplations of his own secrets and horrors. After another Joycean interlude depicting Sissy's treatment in a mental hospital, Olivia takes over the story from the present day, and though outwardly successful, she refuses to let go of her anger at her brother's death. Unfortunately, revelations in the second half of this brief novel feel rushed, while the characters' proclivities for introspection do little to create narrative urgency. (Aug.) Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information.

"[A] compelling look at family and memory, despair and redemption. . . . Passionate and heart-felt." -The Wall Street Journal

"A quiet masterpiece. . . . It is hard not to go hurtling through this book, with its controlled yet vast embrace of all that is terrifying about living." -New York Post

"Sophisticated. . . . Hart shows how love of family and love of country can feed from each other." -The New York Times Book Review

"An ambitious and poetic weaving of a long-ago family tragedy into the tragic history, and histories, of our time. Josephine Hart has come home in triumph." -John Banville

"In this compelling and remarkable book, Hart has written a moving lament for exile. . . . A tour de force. . . . There are echoes of Beckett and Joyce in Hart's writing." -The Times Literary Supplement (London)

"Deeply moving. . . . [The Truth About Love] packs a punch far beyond its size. . . . An uncompromising tale that explores grief, redemption, and misery." -Irish Independent

"A bleak tale, beautifully told, about the burden we must all, as human beings, survive." -The Times (London)

"Hart's dialogue is extraordinary, blending poetry and naturalism like the great Irish playwrights." -The Independent (London)

"A brave novel. . . . Hart's [characters] live beyond the confines of even her fiery and elegant prose." -The Guardian (London)

"[The Truth About Love] embraces themes of heart, soul, pride and shame of country, guilt and memory, emphasizing that the past will not be ignored. . . . Its universal themes will resonate with readers, underscoring that losses are unavoidable for those who love, and enduring is not easy, but that is part of living." -Las Vegas Review-Journal

"A genuine, deeply felt story of love and loss." -Daily Mail