Liam Durcan's Books

Garcia's Heart

By: Liam Durcan

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A searing debut novel told with the dexterity of Graham Greene, the moral complexity of Ian McEwan, and the tension of a thriller. Dazzling new fiction writer Liam Durcan blends his knowledge of the intricacies of neuroscience with a literary ability for riveting, layered storytelling. In García’s Heart, neurologist Patrick Lazerenko travels to The Hague to witness the war crimes trial of his beloved mentor, Hernan García, a Honduran doctor accused of involvement in torture. Driven by his own youthful memories of the man and his family, Lazerenko is determined to get to the truth behind the shocking accusations, even as the prosecution and a relentless journalist suspect Patrick of hiding information. The defense has its own ideas for Patrick, hoping to use his latest research to help vindicate García. As Patrick struggles with his conscience, and the pressures from the neuroeconomics company he abandoned in Boston, he must also contend with seeing García’s daughter, his former lover, and the surprising influence a shady advocacy group seems to have over her, and with the fact García himself is refusing to speak, to anyone. Taut, probing, highly intelligent, skillfully written, García’s Heart delves into the central issues of today, from terrorism to bioethics, and the age-old dilemmas of loyalty and betrayal.

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Page Count

394

Publisher

McClelland & Stewart

Published Date

ISBN 10

1551991748

ISBN 13

9781551991740

Garcia's Heart

A Novel

By: Liam Durcan

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Garcia's Heart

A Novel

By: Liam Durcan

Winner of the Arthur Ellis Award for Best First Novel In this enthralling debut novel, neurologist Patrick Lazerenko travels to The Hague to witness the war crimes trial of his mentor, Hernan García, a Honduran doctor accused of involvement in torture. As García's supposed crimes are revealed, Patrick wrestles with what truth there may be behind the accusations, haunted as he is by his own youthful memories of the man and his family. But it isn't until García's shocking intentions come to light that Patrick begins to realize that however sophisticated his knowledge of the brain may be, it will take more for him to understand the human heart.

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Page Count

308

Publisher

Macmillan

Published Date

ISBN 10

0312539320

ISBN 13

9780312539320

The Measure of Darkness

By: Liam Durcan

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The Measure of Darkness

By: Liam Durcan

Paragraphe Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction Winner National Reading Group Month “Great Group Reads” selection “A deft exploration of the heart and mind that offers the pathos of a Sam Shepard play nested within the unreliable storytelling of Christopher Nolan’s Memento.” —Kirkus Reviews Martin, an acclaimed architect, emerges from a coma after a roadside accident to find his world transformed: not only has the commission of a lifetime been taken from him, but his injury has left him with neglect syndrome, a loss of spatial awareness that has rendered him unfit to practice and unable to recognize the extent of his illness. Despite support from his formerly estranged brother and two grown daughters, his paranoia builds, alienating those closest to him. His only solace is found in the parallels he draws between himself and gifted Soviet-era architect Konstantin Melnikov, who survived Stalin’s disfavor by retreating into obscurity. As Martin retraces Melnikov’s life and his own fateful decisions, he becomes increasingly unsettled, until the discovery of the harrowing truth about the night of his accident hurtles him toward a deadly confrontation. A gripping journey into the depths of a fractured mind, The Measure of Darkness is ultimately a resonant tale of resilience and healing. Liam Durcan is the author of García’s Heart, winner of the Arthur Ellis Best First Novel Award. He lives in Montreal, Quebec, where he works as a neurologist at McGill University.

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Page Count

256

Publisher

Bellevue Literary Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1942658052

ISBN 13

9781942658054

The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names of Ireland

By: Kay Muhr,Liam Ó hAisibéil

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The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names of Ireland

By: Kay Muhr,Liam Ó hAisibéil

The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names of Ireland contains more than 3,800 entries covering the majority of family names that are established and current in Ireland, both in the Republic and in Northern Ireland. It establishes reliable and accurate explanations of historical origins (including etymologies) and provides variant spellings for each name as well as its geographical distribution, and, where relevant, genealogical and bibliographical notes for family names that have more than 100 bearers in the 1911 census of Ireland. Of particular value are the lists of early bearers of family names, extracted from sources ranging from the medieval period to the nineteenth century, providing for the first time, the evidence on which many surname explanations are based, as well as interesting personal names, locations and often occupations of potential family forbears. This unique Dictionary will be of the greatest interest not only to those interested in Irish history, students of the Irish language, genealogists, and geneticists, but also to the general public, both in Ireland and in the Irish diaspora in North America, Australia, and elsewhere.

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Page Count

2365

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

019252478X

ISBN 13

9780192524782

Unhappy the Land

The Most Oppressed People Ever, the Irish?

By: Liam Kennedy

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Unhappy the Land

The Most Oppressed People Ever, the Irish?

By: Liam Kennedy

In Unhappy the Land Liam Kennedy poses fundamental questions about the social and political history of Ireland and challenges cherished notions of a uniquely painful past. Images of tragedy and victimhood are deeply embedded in the national consciousness, yet when the Irish experience is viewed in the larger European context a different perspective emerges. The author’s dissection of some pivotal episodes in Irish history serves to explode commonplace assumptions about oppression, victimhood and a fate said to be comparable ‘only to that of the Jews’. Was the catastrophe of the Great Famine really an Irish Holocaust? Was the Ulster Covenant anything other than a battle-cry for ethnic conflict? Was the Proclamation of the Irish Republic a means of texting terror? And who fears to speak of an Irish War of Independence, shorn of its heroic pretensions? Kennedy argues that the privileging of ‘the gun, the drum and the flag’ above social concerns and individual liberties gave rise to disastrous consequences for generations of Irish people. Ireland might well be a land of heroes, from Cúchulainn to Michael Collins, but it is also worth pondering Bertolt Brecht’s warning: ‘Unhappy the land that is in need of heroes.’

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Page Count

232

Publisher

Irish Academic Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1785370472

ISBN 13

9781785370472

Capital Punishment in Independent Ireland

A Social, Legal and Political History

By: David M. Doyle,Liam O'Callaghan

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Capital Punishment in Independent Ireland

A Social, Legal and Political History

By: David M. Doyle,Liam O'Callaghan

This is a comprehensive and nuanced historical survey of the death penalty in Ireland from the immediate post-civil war period through to its complete abolition. Using original archival material, this book sheds light on the various social, legal and political contexts in which the death penalty operated and was discussed. In Ireland the death penalty served a dual function: as an instrument of punishment in the civilian criminal justice system, and as a weapon to combat periodic threats to the security of the state posed by the Irish Republican Army (IRA). Through close examination of cases dealt with in the ordinary criminal courts, this study elucidates ideas of class, gender, community and sanity and explores their impact on the administration of justice. The application of the death penalty also had a strong political dimension, most evident in the enactment of emergency legislation and the setting up of military courts specifically aimed at the IRA. As the book demonstrates, the civilian and the political strands converged in the story of the abolition of the death penalty in Ireland. Long after decision-makers accepted that the death penalty was no longer an acceptable punishment for 'ordinary' cases of murder, lingering anxieties about the threat of subversives dictated the pace of abolition and the scope of the relevant legislation.

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Page Count

306

Published Date

ISBN 10

1789620279

ISBN 13

9781789620276

Garcia's Heart

A Novel

By: Liam Durcan

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Garcia's Heart

A Novel

By: Liam Durcan

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Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

308

Publisher

Macmillan

Published Date

ISBN 10

0312539320

ISBN 13

9780312539320

Book's by Liam Durcan

Garcia's Heart

Garcia's Heart

Garcia's Heart

Garcia's Heart

The Measure of Darkness

The Measure of Darkness

The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names of Ireland

The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names of Ireland

Unhappy the Land

Unhappy the Land

Capital Punishment in Independent Ireland

Capital Punishment in Independent Ireland

Garcia's Heart

Garcia's Heart

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