Shadowplay: A Novel

by Joseph O'Connor

Overview

A West End theater in London is shaken up by the crimes of Jack the Ripper in this novel by the New York Times–bestselling author of The Star of the Sea.

Henry Irving is Victorian London’s most celebrated actor and theater impresario. He has introduced groundbreaking ideas to the theater, bringing to the stage performances that are spectacular, shocking, and always entertaining. When Irving decides to open his own London theater with the goal of making it the greatest playhouse on earth, he hires a young Dublin clerk harboring literary ambitions by the name of Bram Stoker to manage it. As Irving’s theater grows in reputation and financial solvency, he lures to his company of mummers the century’s most beloved actress, the dazzlingly talented leading lady Ellen Terry, who nightly casts a spell not only on her audiences but also on Stoker and Irving both.

Bram Stoker’s extraordinary experiences at the Lyceum Theatre, his early morning walks on the streets of a London terrorized by a serial killer, his long, tempestuous relationship with Irving, and the closeness he finds with Ellen Terry, inspire him to write Dracula, the most iconic and best-selling supernatural tale ever published.

A magnificent portrait both of lamp-lit London and of lives and loves enacted on the stage, Shadowplay’s rich prose, incomparable storytelling, and vivid characters will linger in readers’ hearts and minds for many years.

“A vibrantly imaginative narrative of passion, intrigue and literary ambition set in the garish heyday of a theater. . . . Artfully splicing truth with fantasy, O’Connor has a glorious time turning a ramshackle and haunted London playhouse into a primary source for Stoker’s Gothic imaginings.” —Miranda Seymour, The New York Times Book Review

“A gorgeously written historical novel about Stoker’s inner life. . . . I wasn’t prepared to be awed by his prose, which is so good you can taste it. . . . O’Connor dazzles.” —Michael Dirda, The Washington Post

“And Mr. O’Connor’s main characters—Stoker, Irving and the beloved actress Ellen Terry—are so forcefully brought to life that when, close to tears, you reach this drama’s final page, you will return to the beginning just to remain in their company.” —Anna Mundow, The Wall Street Journal

“This novel blows the dust off its Victorian trappings and brings them to scintillating life.” —Publishers Weekly, PW Picks, Starred Review

FINALIST 2019 COSTA BOOK OF THE YEAR

FINALIST 2020 DALKEY LITERARY AWARD

2020 WALTER SCOTT PRIZE

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781609455941
Publisher:	Europa Editions, Incorporated
Publication date:	03/29/2022
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	328
Sales rank:	31,609
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Joseph O’Connor was born in Dublin. He is the author of nine novels, two collections of short stories, and a number of bestselling works of non-fiction. He has also written film scripts and radio and stage-plays. His novel Star of the Sea was an international bestseller, selling more than a million copies and being published in 38 languages. It won France’s Prix Millepages, Italy’s Premio Acerbi, the Irish Post Award for Fiction, the Nielsen Bookscan Golden Book Award, an American Library Association Award, the Hennessy/Sunday Tribune Hall of Fame Award, and the Prix Litteraire Zepter for European Novel of the Year.
In 2009 he was the Harman Visiting Professor of Creative Writing at Baruch College, City University of New York. He holds an honorary Doctorate in Literature from University College Dublin, and received the Irish PEN Award for Outstanding Contribution to Irish Literature in 2012. He lives in Ireland and is the Inaugural Frank McCourt Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Limerick.

Hometown:

Dublin, Ireland

Date of Birth:

September 20, 1963

Place of Birth:

Dublin, Ireland

Education:

B.A., University College, Dublin, 1984; M.A., 1986; University College, Oxford, 1987; M.A., University of Leeds, 1991

Editorial Reviews

…a vibrantly imaginative narrative of passion, intrigue and literary ambition…Artfully splicing truth with fantasy, O'Connor has a glorious time turning a ramshackle and haunted London playhouse into a primary source for Stoker's Gothic imaginings…Throughout this vivid re-creation of one of the most fascinating and neglected episodes in the enticingly murky history of the Gothic novel, the storyteller keeps his reader deliciously in the dark.

The New York Times Book Review - Miranda Seymour

★ 03/02/2020

O’Connor’s high-spirited latest (after The Star of the Sea) puts ample flesh on the bones of the little-known story of the theatrical ménage involving celebrity actors Henry Irving and Ellen Terry, and Irving’s business manager, Bram Stoker. Composed (like Dracula) in epistolary style from diary entries, letters, recording transcripts, and the like, the narrative follows Stoker as he moves with his family from Dublin to London in 1879 to help Irving establish his Lyceum Theatre. Over the next quarter century the two indulge in a frequently bitter love/hate relationship—Irving drives Stoker mercilessly and cruelly taunts him for his literary ambitions. Via commentary from Terry on Dracula, O’Connor’s narrative suggests that Stoker likely channeled the personality of Irving and the drama of their contretemps into his tale of the imperious vampire scourge. O’Connor’s characters are magnificently realized and colorfully depicted by the virtues that define them: Irving’s egotism, Terry’s feminism, Stoker’s stoicism, and—for the brief time he appears—Oscar Wilde’s witticisms. The repartee O’Connor imagines between them is priceless, in particular when they refer to each other by their nicknames (“Chief” for Irving, “Auntie” for Stoker), and he fills the tale with numerous rib nudges that readers of Dracula will recognize. This novel blows the dust off its Victorian trappings and brings them to scintillating life. (May)

Publishers Weekly

I am a huge fan [of Shadowplay]. […] It’s rich, dense and beautifully written.”—Brendan Coyle, star of Downton Abbey, in The Chicago Tribune

★ “An affectionate, tender story about everyday heroism, secret selves, and triumphs and tragedies on stage and in life and the many kinds of love that bind us together.”—Library Journal (Starred Review)

★ “O’Connor’s characters are magnificently realized...This novel blows the dust off its Victorian trappings and brings them to scintillating life.”—Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

“Effervescent...Shadowplay is far more than a frothy entertainment. Subtly drawn and intensely affecting, this portrayal of accidental friendship, enduring love, frustrated ambition and, dare we say it, the alchemy of acting, recalls, in its effortless grace, those 19th-century novels that made readers of us all.”—The Wall Street Journal

“A vibrantly imaginative narrative of passion, intrigue and literary ambition.”—The New York Times Book Review

“A marvelous novel...Magnificent.”—Suzie Feay, Financial Times

“Joseph O’Connor’s graceful, insightful writing is immediately apparent...O’Connor’s engrossing story is wonderfully well served by the superb narration.”—BookTrib

“A thoughtful exploration of the tangled nature of desire and commitment.”—Kirkus Reviews

“There are few living writers who can take us back in time so assuredly, with such sensual density, through such gorgeous sentences. Joseph O’Connor is a wonder, and Shadowplay is a triumph.”—Peter Carey, author of Parrot and Olivier in America

“Shadowplay is an absolutely magnificent book. It’s not just a portrait of Bram Stoker, but a novel of the here and now. This is one of the best books of the year, anywhere.”—Colum McCann, Irish Independent, Books of the Year

“Resurrecting Victorian theatre in all its gaudy wizardry […] O’Connor’s panache and subtlety wonderfully match the gusto and creative finesse of the High Victorian world he dazzlingly evokes.”—The Sunday Times, a 2019 Best Novel of the Year

“Briskly paced, a plot elegantly clockworked, full of razor sharp insights on what it means just to be human, atmosphere spilling off the pages like early morning fog and full of gorgeous sentences that pulled me up short.”—Rick O’Shea, RTÉ, Best Books of 2019

“As much as this is a hugely entertaining book about the grand scope of friendship and love, it is also, movingly—at times, agonizingly—a story of transience, loss and true loyalty.”—Sadie Jones, The Guardian

“An ingenious novel . . . O’Connor’s work is hugely impressive and utterly haunting.”—The Sunday Mirror

“A gorgeous, gorgeous book . . . A thing of great beauty.”—Ryan Tubridy, RTÉ Radio

“A mesmerizing read, beautifully researched.”—Sunday Independent

“Shadowplay totally swept me away . . . It’s a bit like Moulin Rouge meets Dracula. I absolutely loved it.”—Oliver Callan, Irish Examiner

“Intensely atmospheric . . . As a romp through Ripper-ravaged London, Shadowplay is mightily entertaining. But as a meditation on hidden sexuality, it is powerful and poignant.”—The Literary Review

“O’Connor is one of the best writers working today.”—Alice Walker, author of The Color Purple

“Shadowplay is wonderful. The writing is beautiful.”—Tony Award-winning actor, Derek Jacobi

“Seriously fascinating [. . .] Shadowplay displays a brilliant ear for tone and nuance, and a wonderful talent for evoking and creating drama.”—Colm Toibin, author of Brooklyn

“Joseph O’Connor is a very great artist and storyteller. The quotient of enjoyment in his extraordinary new novel is stupendous.”—Sebastian Barry, author of The Secret Scripture

“A great writer performing Olympian literary storytelling.”—Bob Geldof

“A thrilling novel, exquisitely contrived to show the characters whose loves and lives inspired Dracula. A great tribute, and a work of art. Deeply affecting.”—Essie Fox, author of The Somnambulist

“Atmospheric and evocative . . . [O’Connor] also manages to explore with verve, humour and acuity the public role and inner turmoil of the intriguing Bram Stoker.”—Diarmaid Ferriter, The Irish Times, a 2019 Book of the Year

“A glorious romp through Victorian London.”—Liz Nugent, The Irish Times

“O’Connor inhabits his characters with all the intensity of a method actor, re-creating an extraordinary world of creativity and self-doubt.”—John Boyne, The Irish Times

“A witty, wry, astute and tender delight.”—Martin Doyle, The Irish Times, Books of the Year 2019

“A sparkling historical novel . . . rich in wit and imagination.”—The Daily Mail

“A hugely entertaining and atmospheric novel, one can almost smell the greasepaint.”—Deborah Moggach, author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

“[With Shadowplay] O’Connor offers a layered, intricately told historical drama.”—The Herald

“In glorious sentences, Joseph O’Connor captures the essence of three very difference artistic temperaments in all their nobility and glorious absurdity.”—Jake Kerridge, Sunday Express

“Ireland’s greatest storyteller.”—The Sunday Independent

“Like Joyce, O’Connor combines his panoramic range with a close eye to the grain and texture of the phrase ... An astonishingly accomplished writer.”—Terry Eagleton, The Guardian

“A book-within-a-book of the highest caliber, it treads the boards from the dazzling spectacle of Shakespeare to the quiet desperation of everyday life. It's also occasionally, as befits a story of Dracula’s creator, creepingly spooky... Shadowplay made me laugh, weep, and most importantly, begat a sense of intimately knowing its real-life muses: Abraham Stoker, Ellen Terry, and and Henry Irving.”—Amanda Qassar, Warwick’s, La Jolla, CA

“Well, this was just magnificent. I could read this book on a loop. Bram Stoker, theatre and actors, ghosts, and such vivid language, the perfect heady mix for a perfect historical novel.”—Anton Bogomazov, Politics & Prose, Washington, DC

“If Joseph O’Connor was inspired by the theory that Bram Stoker based Dracula on his boss Henry Irving, then it’s a delightful surprise that SHADOWPLAY became something even richer and stranger. Filled with eye-popping set pieces (Irving leaping into the audience as a rabid Hamlet, a bonkers cameo by black-teethed Oscar Wilde) and absurdly delicious dialogue, SHADOWPLAY succeeds far beyond its original premise. It plays perfectly to the cheap seats and boxes, raising from Stoker’s frustrated life a host of themes: literary ambition, gothic horror, gender fluidity, Irishness, and the always-more-interesting drama occurring backstage.”—Steve Iwanski, Charter Books, Rhode Island

“A wonderful read filled with one-line quips that are priceless. Interesting history for those of us who are unfamiliar with Victorian theater as well as a superbly written novel.”—Laura Parsons, Island Bound Bookstore, Block Island, RI

“Shadowplay is an accomplished, compelling read.”—The Herald

“Joseph O’Connor: What a writer!”—from Twitter, Sunday Times books editor, Andrew Holgate

“An absorbing tale.”—Historical Novels Review

“In description, Shadowplay sounds like it’s all about plot, but, in reality, it’s all about the sentences so lush you could wrap them around you like a cloak.”—Minneapolis Star Tribune

“A deep exploration of the exposed and the hidden [ . . . ] every page has an eye-catcher, often more than one.”—Five Books, Best Books of 2020: Historical Fiction

From the Publisher

★ 04/01/2020

"In every being who lives, there is a second self very little known to anyone. It's the best part of you, the most interesting, the most curious, the most heroic." This epigraph greets readers at the start of this courageous, compassionate, beautifully realized historical novel about friendship, the passage of time, and our best selves. The narrative limns the lifelong relationship among three famous individuals connected to the Lyceum Theatre in Victorian London: Henry Irving, a flamboyant impresario and world-renowned actor who opens the Lyceum; Ellen Terry, also world famous as an actress and a favorite of Irving; and Bram Stoker, the young man Irving hires to manage the Lyceum and who will become posthumously famous as the author of Dracula. The result is an affectionate, tender story about everyday heroism, secret selves, and triumphs and tragedies on stage and in life and the many kinds of love that bind us together. Masterly historical novelist O'Connor (Star of the Sea) brings these friendships urgently to life in all their complexity, messiness, and grandeur. VERDICT Queasy readers shouldn't be put off by the darker elements of the story, e.g., Dracula, Jack the Ripper, foggy Victorian London; this work offers readers an authentic and deeply moving literary experience.—Patrick Sullivan, Manchester Community Coll., CT

Library Journal

2020-03-02
Better known as the author of Dracula, Bram Stoker in his day job as general manager of London’s Lyceum Theatre is the focus of Irish writer O’Connor’s atmospheric new novel.

Mind you, there are plenty of nods to his famous horror story, from a ghost in the theater’s attic named Mina to a scene-painter named Jonathan Harker, plus the fact that the dreaded vampire bears a more than passing resemblance to Stoker’s mercurial boss, legendary actor Henry Irving. Harker turns out to be a woman, a twist that suits the seething homoerotic currents between Stoker and Irving, who can also be found entwined in the naked arms of co-star Ellen Terry. Terry’s voice as recorded in 1906—funny, bitchy, extremely shrewd about her acting partner’s gifts and limitations—offers a welcome counterpoint to the sometimes overly dense third-person narrative of Stoker’s tenure at the Lyceum and on tour in the late 1870s and '80s, grappling with Irving’s neuroses while striving to snatch some time for his own writing. This is a tougher, colder work than Ghost Light (2011), O’Connor’s previous fictional excursion into theatrical lives, and that novel’s portrait of actor Molly Allgood’s love affair with playwright John Synge was gentler than this one of Stoker’s thorny relationship with Irving, a toxic blend of need, rage, resentment, and profound love. Still, the men’s bond is as moving and more unsettling, proof that, as Stoker later tells Harker, “Love is not a matter of who puts what where but of wanting only goodness and respectful kindliness for the loved one.” Irving seems less deserving of such kindness than Stoker’s assertive wife, Flo, who makes sure he gets copyright protection for the vampire story his boss cruelly dismisses as “filth and tedious rubbish from first to last.” Flo’s tender letter to Terry after Stoker’s death closes the novel, with another affirmation that “There are many kinds of love. I know that. He did, too.”

An uneven mix of Dracula and theater lore but a thoughtful exploration of the tangled nature of desire and commitment.

Kirkus Reviews