Jack McNulty is a ‘temporary gentleman’, an Irishman whose commission in the British army in the Second World War was never permanent. In 1957, sitting in his lodgings in Accra, he urgently sets out to write his story. He feels he cannot take one step further, or even hardly a breath, without looking back at all that has befallen him.
He is an ordinary man, both petty and heroic, but he has seen extraordinary things. He has worked and wandered around the world – as a soldier, an engineer, a UN observer – trying to follow his childhood ambition to better himself. And he has had a strange and tumultuous marriage. Mai Kirwan was a great beauty of Sligo in the 1920s, a vivid mind, but an elusive and mysterious figure too. Jack married her, and shared his life with her, but in time she slipped from his grasp.
A heart-breaking portrait of one man’s life – of his demons and his lost love – The Temporary Gentleman is, ultimately, a novel about Jack’s last bid for freedom, from the savage realities of the past and from himself.
Reviews:
‘This is a story of pain , sorrow, anger, anger and grief all rolled into one. This is historical fiction, set on the island of Jeju, South Korea. It centers on the relationship between two women, Mi-ja and Young-sook, from the 1930s to 2008. They are best friends growing up in a Korea run by the Japanese, who made a colony of Korea in 1910. *SPOILER alert: They remain friends until one day in January 1949, when their friendship is destroyed. Young-sook’s husband, son and sister-in-law are killed by South Korean soldiers. END alert. I was aware that the US installed a dictator, Rhee Syngman(Korean–US is Syngman Rhee), who was a staunch anti-communist, in S. Korea. I was not aware that his police and army had a large number of Japanese collaborators. His regime ruthlessly suppressed opponents who protested, asking for democratic elections, killing thousands on Jeju alone.
This book also has a large amount of information of the women on Jeju, who do the fishing, while their husbands stay home taking care of the children. This practice goes back hundreds of years to a time when men who fished were heavily taxed by Korean kings, while women paid no taxes. I strongly recommend this book to all historical fiction and Lisa See fans.
Thank You Simon and Schuster for sending me this eARC through NetGalley. – Goodreads review
Author: Lisa See
Softcover
Condition: Great lightly used condition.
All sales are final / as is
Softcover
Condition: Great lightly used vintage condition.
All sales are final / as is
