7.6 /10 1 Votes
Cover artist Mary Lohan Publication date 1999 Originally published 1999 Genre Novel Country Ireland | 3.8/5 Goodreads Language English ISBN 0-684-87389-3 Publisher Picador | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Media type Print (Hardback & Paperback) Pages 273 pp (first edition hardcover) Nominations Booker Prize, International Dublin Literary Award Similar Colm Tóibín books, Novels | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Blackwater Lightship is a 1999 novel written by Irish novelist Colm Tóibín, and was short-listed for the Booker Prize.
Contents
the blackwater lightship 2004
Plot summary
The story is set in Dublin and County Wexford and described from the viewpoint of Helen, a successful school principal living with her husband and two children in Ireland. She learns one day, that her brother Declan, who is homosexual, has been ill with AIDS for years, and refused to tell her until then. He asks her to deliver their mother and grandmother the news. This presents a challenge to Helen as she has had minimal contact with either woman due to deeply buried conflicts relating to Helen's past and her father's sudden death when she was a child.
As the three women meet again they are forced to overcome these struggles for Declan's sake. The novel follows the painful journey they must take in order to correct the misunderstanding that exists between them.
Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
The novel was made into a film and aired on CBS as a Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation. Angela Lansbury received an Emmy nomination for it in 2004. It also stars Gina McKee, Sam Robards, Dianne Wiest, and Keith McErlean; and was directed by John Erman.