{"product_id":"a-time-outworn-paperback","title":"A Time Outworn - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eVal Mulkerns\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eValentine's Day 2025 marks the centenary of the birth of Irish writer Val Mulkerns. To celebrate, 451 Editions brings out a special edition of her widely-acclaimed first novel, \u003cem\u003eA Time Outworn\u003c\/em\u003e. Originally published by Chatto and Windus in 1951, it's a coming of age story set in Ireland just after the Second World War. The anniversary edition features a foreword by Carlo G?bler, and an introduction drawn from Mulkerns's late 1940s diaries, by her daughter Maev Kennedy. The official publication date is February 14 2025, to celebrate the centenary of Val Mulkerns's birth on February 14 1925.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen Maeve Cusack falls short of the marks required for a university scholarship, her immediate prospects are unclear, complicated by her relationship with the bookish young Diarmuid. An intelligent and fiercely independent soul, Maeve's decisions are life-changing and highly untypical for the times. As much a portrait of post-war Irish society as of its distinctive heroine, it's a compelling fiction debut. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe New York Times praised it as \"written in a cool and lovely prose\". The Irish Times called it \"a sensitive, intelligent first novel\". Frank O'Connor, in a piece commissioned by \u003cem\u003eHarpers Bazaar\u003c\/em\u003e, wrote: \"the prose is the sort that only a woman of genius can write, with every word like a dart at a target.\" In his foreword to the new edition, Carlo G?bler notes: \"There are few if any Irish novels written and published in the period with the breadth of interests in all senses that are on display in \u003cem\u003eA Time Outworn\u003c\/em\u003e.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eVal Mulkerns went on to write ten more books, worked as associate editor on The Bell, becoming a renowned voice in Irish literature, and among the first elected members of Aosd?na. She was a journalist and often heard on RTE's Sunday Miscellany down the years. Her most recent titles were Memory and Desire and a memoir, Friends with the Enemy, launched by the author just weeks before her death in 2018. Her place in the Irish literary canon is celebrated in recent anthologies such as \u003cem\u003eReading The Future\u003c\/em\u003e (Arlen House, 2018) and \u003cem\u003eThe Writer's Torch\u003c\/em\u003e (Stinging Fly Press, 2023).\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 244\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.61 x 8.5 x 5.5 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e February 07, 2025\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42384289562759,"sku":"9781916297517","price":20.68,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0601\/2623\/2711\/files\/d242c1221d5a1afe5e7ab18377bfcae0.webp?v=1740730074","url":"https:\/\/booksby.splitshops.com\/products\/a-time-outworn-paperback","provider":"Books by splitShops","version":"1.0","type":"link"}