Midwinter Break
Bernard MacLaverty
2017 • Random House
At some point I said to an interviewer that writing prose is like building a dry-stone wall – you don’t get better at it. But maybe you do. I don’t know. But I know that the story you just finished is no use whatsoever to the story you’re about to start. It needs to be a unique event. To have a formula is not a good idea: each narrative, each story, is to be approached and told differently.
— Bernard MacLaverty
Midwinter Break
Bernard MacLaverty
2017 • Random House
At some point I said to an interviewer that writing prose is like building a dry-stone wall – you don’t get better at it. But maybe you do. I don’t know. But I know that the story you just finished is no use whatsoever to the story you’re about to start. It needs to be a unique event. To have a formula is not a good idea: each narrative, each story, is to be approached and told differently.
— Bernard MacLaverty
Description
A retired couple, Gerry and Stella Gilmore, fly to Amsterdam for a midwinter break. A holiday to refresh the senses, to see the sights and to generally take stock of what remains of their lives. But amongst the wintry streets and icy canals we see their relationship fracturing beneath the surface. And when memories re-emerge of a troubled time in their native Ireland things begin to fall apart. As their midwinter break comes to an end, we understand how far apart they are – and can only watch as they struggle to save themselves.
Excerpts
Interviews
- The Guardian: Bernard MacLaverty – ‘The Story You Have Just Finished is of Little Help to Writing the Next One.’
- The Irish Times: Bernard MacLaverty – ‘My Life Has Been a Seamless Piece of Laziness, Work, and Thoughts’
- The Irish Times: 'Bernard MacLaverty – A Novelist With a Catholic Sensibility'
- Dundee University Review: ‘You Write about Where you Come From. And then you Realise you Have your Own Stories to Tell.’ An Interview With Bernard MacLaverty
- Belfast Telegraph: Bernard MacLaverty – ‘When a Teacher Read my School Essay to the Class he Gave me Sixpence … That Was the First Money I Ever Earned From Writing’
- Authorlink: 'Acclaimed Novelist Screenwriter MacLaverty Sees Fiction as Made-Up Truth'
- TLS: Twenty Questions With Bernard MacLaverty
Prizes & Awards
Reviews
- Justine Jordan, The Guardian
- Anne Enright, The Irish Times
- Paddy Kehoe, RTÉ.ie
- John Michaud, The Washington Post
- Fran Hawthorne, The New York Journal of Books
- Lindsay Duguid, TLS
- Emma Cummins, The Quietus
- Eileen Battersby, Financial Times
- The Scotsman
- Dovegreyreader Blog
- Kirkus
Audio
Video
- ShortStoryEU: Bernard MacLaverty Interview
- University of Birmingham: Bernard MacLaverty – Creative Minds at Birmingham
