''Casualties of Peace'', published in 1966, is Irish writer

Edna O'Brien Josephine Edna O'Brien (born 15 December 1930) is an Irish novelist, memoirist, playwright, poet and short-story writer. Elected to Aosdána by her fellow artists, she was honoured with the title Saoi in 2015 and the "UK and Ireland Nobel" D ...

's fifth novel.

Dedication

''Casualties of Peace'' is dedicated to "

Rita Tushingham Rita Tushingham (born 14 March 1942) is an English actress. She is known for her starring roles in films including ''A Taste of Honey'' (1961), ''The Leather Boys'' (1964), '' The Knack ...and How to Get It'' (1965), ''Doctor Zhivago'' (1965), ...

, whose coat it is". Tushingham starred in the 1963 film, ''

Girl with Green Eyes ''Girl with Green Eyes'' is a 1964 British film, which Edna O'Brien adapted from her novel ''The Lonely Girl''. It tells the story of a young, naive country girl's romance with a sophisticated older man. Directed by Desmond Davis Desmond St ...

'' which was written by O'Brien; a fur coat plays a crucial role in the plot of the novel.

Plot introduction

Set in London it concerns Willa McCord, an artist in glass (who is starting an affair with Auro, a married Jamaican) and her best friend and housekeeper Patsy (who lives with her violent husband Tom) Patsy decides to leave Tom but her plans are thrown into disarray when she finds she is pregnant.

Reception

*''

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...

'' was positive: "Edna O'Brien manages to commit the reader and transmit a sense of life in a remarkable fashion. Few writers achieve this much." *''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' was mixed, praising the authors "extraordinary style": "The novel pulsates with her racy, exuberant, nervous prose, a prose that often achieves the intensity of a unique shorthand" but then identifies a conflict between this style and the structure of the novel as being "especially damaging".

References

{{Edna O'Brien 1966 novels Jonathan Cape books Novels by Edna O'Brien Novels set in London Irish romance novels 20th-century Irish novels Simon & Schuster books