Events at the Shop
Andrew O'Hagan - Be Near Me
Wednesday 13 September 2006
Andrew O’Hagan’s third novel Be Near Me dissects the class hatreds and personal flaws of a small Scottish parish and the English priest who arrives in it. A month after its publication, O’Hagan gave an expressive and moving reading of scenes from the book at the London Review Bookshop.
Context, Cancer, Kids
Listen now (16:23)
After providing a brief background to Be Near Me, Andrew O’Hagan reads a scene from the middle of the novel. Father David Anderton comforts his housekeeper Mrs Poole when she receives a letter confirming her cancer diagnosis, before setting off on a day trip with a group of boisterous young people from the parish.
On the Boat
Listen now (20:48)
O’Hagan continues his reading with Father David and his charges’ boat trip to Ailsa Craig. He contrasts “youthful vivid certainty” with the family background behind it through the characters of the charming and dangerous Mark McNulty and of Mark’s depressed father.
Recorded and edited by Adrian Leibowitz and Brett Wilson
Common Custom:documentary & archive
Andrew O’Hagan’s The Atlantic Ocean, a collection of essays on Britain and America, many of which were first published in the LRB, was published in June. Be Near Me won the 2008 Los Angeles Times Book Prize award for fiction.
“He writes in the rare style of an intelligent angel”
– Norman Mailer
Further Reading
If you enjoyed this event, you may also be interested in:
Iain Sinclair - Edge of the Orison