Out Of Ireland

Synopsis

Christopher Koch's bestselling Out Of Ireland now published into VintageA leader of the Young Ireland rebellion of 1848, Robert Devereaux is an Irish gentleman who is prepared to hazard a life of privilege in the fight for his country's freedom. Transported to Van Diemen's land as a political prisoner, he enters a life that greatly changes him, falling in love with a young Irish convict woman, and through her coming to know the people he's long romanticised. But his cause, and the life he has lost, will not let him go.Rave reviews for Out Of Ireland'These novels (Out Of Ireland and Highways To A War) will surely become Australian classics.' The Australian's Review of Books'Koch is both painter and poet-an acute observer of detail with a language so distilled in its purity as to create the illusion that the reader is also the observer.' Sydney Morning Herald'Robert Devereaux is a splendid literary invention – Koch is at home in the demotic of various convict-era brothels and cubbies – and the chaff of classically-educated gentleman revolutionaries is an Arcadian setting in Van Dieman's Land – Koch's novel has much in common with the revelations of the machinery of nightmare states portrayed by Kafka and Solzhenitsyn – With both books (Highways To A War and Out Of Ireland), he has enlarged our understanding of the capabilities of fiction.' Brisbane Courier Mail and Sydney Daily Telegraph'That it succeeds so well is mainly because Koch is able to capture that voice-grave, measured, beautifully lucid-so well – An impressive and formidable achievement.' Melbourne Age'In writing about the Tasmanian landscape in which he grew up, Koch rises to lyrical heights that fulfil his long-held impulse towards poetry – A profound exploration of human idealism and an intensely literary experience that intentionally echoes the structure of Dante's Inferno.'Who Weekly'When you have read Out Of Ireland and set it aside you will have joined a circle of friends who lived and loved and struggled 150 years ago, and you will wonder how long it will be again before you will be able to pick up and read as great and compelling a book again. I warmly comment Out Of Ireland to you all.' Richard O'Brien, Ambassador of Ireland to Australia