Troubles

By J.G. Farrell
Introduction by John Banville

1919: After surviving the Great War, Major Brendan Archer makes his way to Ireland, hoping to discover whether he is indeed betrothed to Angela Spencer, whose Anglo-Irish family owns the once-aptly-named Majestic Hotel in Kilnalough. But his fiancée is strangely altered and her family's fortunes have suffered a spectacular decline. The hotel's hundreds of rooms are disintegrating on a grand scale; its few remaining guests thrive on rumors and games of whist; herds of cats have taken over the Imperial Bar and the upper stories; bamboo shoots threaten the foundations; and piglets frolic in the squash court. Meanwhile, the Major is captivated by the beautiful and bitter Sarah Devlin. As housekeeping disasters force him from room to room, outside the order of the British Empire also totters: there is unrest in the East, and in Ireland itself the mounting violence of "the troubles."

Troubles is a hilarious and heartbreaking work by a modern master of the historical novel.

Read the introduction (PDF)

Reviews

Farrell was an eye-opener for me. He wrote novels set in the past in a whole new way, informed and sensitive, yet satirical. Also, he was writing about the British Empire—and scathingly—back in the 1970s when few here wanted to think about the uglier parts of their country's past. For me Troubles is Farrell's finest book. He is a marvelous writer, a true stylist, very funny, and every paragraph seems to glow with genius and quiet surprise.
— Matthew Kneale, author of English Passengers

[Troubles conveys] the feeling of the particular reflecting the universal, a feeling so successfully pervading page after page of this clever book.
— William Trevor

Remarkable . . . Mr. Farrell deserves high praise for this novel. It is subtly modulated, richly textured, sad, funny, and altogether memorable.
— Times Literary Supplement

A tour de force . . . sad, tragic, also very funny.
— The Guardian

Also see:

The Siege of Krishnapur By J.G. Farrell Introduction by Pankaj Mishra The Siege of Krishnapur— thought by many to be Farrell's finest novel—chronicles the year of the Great Mutiny in India, when the sepoys turned in bloody rebellion against their complacent British overlords.

The Singapore Grip By J.G. Farrell Introduction by Derek Mahon A sweeping historical novel as well as a stinging satire of corporate power, imperial greed, and military arrogance.

J. G. Farrell Collection The Singapore Grip, Troubles, and The Siege of Krishnapur

Sign up for our free email newsletters for updates and special offers on NYRB books.