Edna O’Brien has died

[TheGander]

I’m cross this was the last item on the 7 o’clock news. She was a trailblazer with her honesty. I remember borrowing her books in the 80s and the margins were scribbled with notes such as “ for shame” and “ filth” ( and that was in England, not Ireland). I have enjoyed every book of hers that I have read. May she rest in peace.

Thank you. She was truly a great writer and a great woman.
I'm honoured to have met her. I'm really sad.

She was a great age and an interesting writer.
May she rest in peace.

I think they will be having more programs marking her life coming up- more mention of her on the 8 o’clock news. I was thinking of her a couple of days ago because her son Carlo Gebler has been presenting a program on radio 4. I hope she was aware of that. She did live to a great age, I’m not Irish but I feel a bit of Irish history goes away with her.

I'm in Ireland so I expect there will be a lot of media coverage of this and the times she wrote about/lived in.

From our President

President Michael D Higgins has led tributes to her, saying that her work "has been sought as model all around the world".
He described Ms O'Brien as "a fearless teller of truths" and "a superb writer possessed of the moral courage to confront Irish society with realities long ignored and suppressed".
"Through that deeply insightful work, rich in humanity, Edna O'Brien was one of the first writers to provide a true voice to the experiences of women in Ireland in their different generations and played an important role in transforming the status of women across Irish society," he said.

Thanks @TheGander

I'd missed this. Librarian so will make a display of her books before we open tomorrow. I love The Country Girls trilogy. Resisted reading it for so long as my mum kept thrusting it at me when I was young saying how excellent it was

Great idea @theotherfossilsister .

May she rest in peace , she was an inspiration to so many of our country women

Camilla has paid a lovely tribute to her on the Royal Family Instagram page.

Here's the NYT obituary, if anyone is interested.

Edna O'Brien, writer who gave voice to women's passions, dies at 93
Her books often depicted willful but insecure women who loved men who were crass, unfaithful or already married. Much of her early work carried aspects of autobiography, which stirred whisperings about her morals and led to personal attacks against her back home in Ireland.

https://artdaily.com/news/172566/Edna-O-Brien--writer-who-gave-voice-to-women-s-passions--dies-at-93

The Lonely Girl touched me hugely when I was an early teen. She was a trailblazer. RIP EOB, what a woman.