The Book of Evidence (Magill’s Literary Annual 1991-2005)
At a glance:
- Author: John Banville
- First Published: 1989
- Type of Work: Novel
- Time of Work: Unspecified, but likely to be the late 1970’s or early 1980’s
- Setting: Berkeley, California; southern Spain; and Dublin, Ireland, and its immediate environs
- Principal Characters: Freddie Montgomery, Daphne, Charlie French
- Genres: Long fiction
- Subjects: Freedom, Crime or criminals, Murder or homicide, Art or artists, Law or legislation, Violence, Punishment, Identity, Existentialism, Morality or morals, Ireland or Irish people
- Locales: Spain, Berkeley, CA, Dublin, Ireland
First published in England in 1989, John Banville’s eighth work of fiction is noteworthy for a number of reasons. It is his most commercially successful work, in terms of both sales and awards—it received the inaugural G.P.A. Prize of fifty thousand pounds in Ireland in 1989 and was a runner-up for the Booker Prize, Britain’s most prestigious literary award. It has received more favorable critical attention than the rest of Banville’s work combined. In addition, it is an excellent overall introduction not only to a novelist who almost single- handedly has revolutionized the...
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