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A Thread of Violence
A Story of Truth, Invention, and Murder
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HardcoverThis item is a preorder. Your payment method will be charged immediately, and the product is expected to ship on or around June 27, 2023. This date is subject to change due to shipping delays beyond our control.
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“A masterpiece”–The Observer * “Disturbing [and] compelling”–Colm Toíbín * “Superb and unforgettable”–Sally Rooney * “Brilliant”–New York Times Book Review * “A masterly work”–John Banville * “Fascinating”–Emmanuel Carrère * “Morally complex and mesmerizing”–Fintan O’Toole
Malcolm Macarthur was a well-known Dublin socialite. Suave and urbane, he passed his days mingling with artists and aristocrats, reading philosophy, living a life of the mind. But by 1982, his inheritance had dwindled to almost nothing, a desperate threat to his lifestyle. Macarthur hastily conceived a plan: He would commit bank robbery, of the kind that had become frightfully common in Dublin at the time. But his plan spun swiftly out of control, and he needlessly killed two innocent civilians. The ensuing manhunt, arrest, and conviction amounted to one of the most infamous political scandals in modern Irish history, contributing to the eventual collapse of a government.
Winner of the Wellcome and Rooney Prizes, Mark O’Connell spent countless hours in conversation with Macarthur–interviews that veered from confession to evasion. Through their tense exchanges and O’Connell’s independent reporting, a pair of narratives unspools: a riveting account of Macarthur’s crimes and a study of the hazy line between truth and invention. We come to see not only the enormity of the murders but the damage that’s inflicted when a life is rendered into story.
At once propulsive and searching, A Thread of Violence is a hard look at a brutal act, its subterranean origins, and the long shadow it casts. It offers a haunting and insightful examination of the lies we tell ourselves–and the lengths we’ll go to preserve them.
- On Sale
- Jun 27, 2023
- Page Count
- 304 pages
- Publisher
- Doubleday
- ISBN-13
- 9780385547628
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