Judith Hearne

Judith Hearne

First edition
Author Brian Moore
Cover artist Heather Standring
Country United Kingdom
Publisher Andre Deutsch
Publication date
1955
Media type Print
Pages 223
OCLC 625517

Judith Hearne (later republished as The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne), was regarded by Northern Irish-Canadian writer Brian Moore as his first novel. The book was published in 1955, after Moore had left Ireland and was living in Canada. It was rejected by ten American publishers before being accepted by a British publisher.[1] Diana Athill's memoir, Stet (2000), has information about the publishing of Judith Hearne.[2]

Set in Belfast in the 1950s, Judith Hearne has been described as "a sensitive study of a middle-aged alcoholic woman in drab Belfast and her desperate last attempts at finding love and companionship".[3]

Moore won the Authors' Club First Novel Award[4] and the Beta Sigma Phi award[5] for this work, although it was not his first novel.

A film based on the book, but with the story relocated to Dublin, was released in 1987 with Maggie Smith in the title role.

The book was republished by HarperCollins, under the title The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne, on 16 July 2007 in the Harper Perennial Modern Classics series (ISBN 0007255616; ISBN 978-0007255610).

References

  1. Smith, Dinitia (12 January 1999). "Brian Moore, Prolific Novelist on Diverse Themes, Dies at 77". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 November 2011.
  2. Athill, Diana (2000). Stet: a memoir. London: Granta. ISBN 1-86207-388-0.
  3. Mulholland, Niall (March 1999). "Brian Moore, 1921–99: Cool prose craftsman". Socialism Today (36). Retrieved 29 March 2013.
  4. "Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award Shortlist Announced". Authors’ Club. 28 April 2014. Retrieved 25 August 2014.
  5. Lonardo, Angela; Lippold, Karen; Sexty, Suzanne. "Beta Sigma Phi Award 1956–1967". Literary Awards in Canada 1923–2000. Retrieved 25 August 2014.