Discover the enthralling Richard & Judy Book Club pick from international bestseller Joseph O'Connor.

'The best novel that I've read in the last twenty years... It's fantastic' RICHARD MADELEY

'Breathtaking... A hugely entertaining book about the grand scope of friendship and love' Sadie Jones, Guardian
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London, 1878. Three extraordinary people begin their life together - and the idea for Dracula is born.

Fresh from life in Dublin, Bram Stoker - now manager of the Lyceum Theatre - is wrestling with dark demons in a new city, in a new marriage, and with his own literary aspirations. As he walks the streets at night, streets haunted by the Ripper and the gossip which swirls around his friend Oscar Wilde, he finds new inspiration. Soon, the eerie tale of Dracula begins to emerge.

But Henry Irving, volcanic leading man and impresario, is determined that nothing will get in the way of Bram's dedication to the Lyceum. And both men are growing ever more enchanted by the beauty and boldness of Ellen Terry, the most celebrated actress of her generation.
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Shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award 2019
Winner of the Irish Book Awards Novel of the Year

'A colourful tale of secret love and public performance...in a romantic, lost London' The Times

'Hugely entertaining and atmospheric' DEBORAH MOGGACH

'Extraordinary' SEBASTIAN BARRY

'A novel I'd recommend to anyone: a rollicking and moving story' James Naughtie, Radio Times

'Fabulous... A truly great book you simply cannot put down' JUDY FINNIGAN

'Rich, sad, funny, and a beautiful read. You'll LOVE it' RICHARD MADELEY

'Ingenious...hugely impressive and utterly haunting' Sunday Mirror

Dazzling...the panache and subtlety of his prose perfectly match that gusto and creative finesse of the High Victorian world his novel wonderfully evokes * Sunday Times *
A novel I'd recommend to anyone: a rollicking and moving story... Delicious and clever late-Victorian gothic -- James Naughtie * Radio Times *
An ingenious novel… O’Connor’s work is hugely impressive and utterly haunting * Sunday Mirror *
Joseph O’Connor is a very great artist and storyteller. The quotient of enjoyment in his extraordinary new novel is stupendous -- Sebastian Barry
A hugely entertaining book about the grand scope of friendship and love, it is also, movingly – at times, astonishingly – a story of transience, loss and true loyalty -- Sadie Jones * Guardian *
A work of Gothic splendour...O'Connor's writing is always intensely atmospheric. As a romp through Ripper-ravaged London, Shadowplay is mightily entertaining. But as a meditation on hidden sexuality, it is powerful and poignant * Literary Review *
A fabulous novel that tells the otherwise largely unknown story of the man behind Gothic horror's most enduring character… The narrative stretches decades, and throbs with theatrical vigour. This is writing at its most immersive, full of Dickensian pulchritude and pathos. It should, and might well, win prizes -- Nick Duerden * i *
A rollicking tale… an affecting depiction of artistic and social emancipation… O’Connor’s well-researched theatrical caper offers total immersion in a romantic, lost London... be nourished by a colourful tale of secret love and public performance * The Times *
There are few living writers who can take us back in time so assuredly, with such sensual density, through such gorgeous sentences. Joseph O’Connor is a wonder, and Shadowplay is a triumph. -- Peter Carey, twice winner of the Booker Prize
Gorgeously dark… Shadowplay is an accomplished, compelling read * Herald *

JOSEPH O’CONNOR was born in Dublin. His books include Cowboys and Indians, Inishowen, Star of the Sea (American Library Association Award, Irish Post Award for Fiction, France’s Prix Millepages, Italy’s Premio Acerbi, Prix Madeleine Zepter for European Novel of the Year), Redemption Falls, Ghost Light (Dublin One City One Book Novel 2011), Shadowplay (Irish Book Awards Novel of the Year, Costa Novel of the Year shortlist) and his Rome Escape Line Trilogy novels, My Father’s House, The Ghosts of Rome (Irish Book Awards Book of the Year) and The City of Echoes. His fiction has been translated into forty languages. He received the 2012 Irish PEN Award for Outstanding Contribution to Literature and in 2014 he was appointed Frank McCourt Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Limerick.

www.josephoconnorauthor.com