''Shade'' is a novel published in 2004 by the
Irish novelist and film writer
Neil Jordan
Neil Patrick Jordan (born 25 February 1950) is an Irish film director, screenwriter, novelist and short-story writer. His first book, '' Night in Tunisia'', won a Somerset Maugham Award and the Guardian Fiction Prize in 1979. He won an Academy ...
.
The book begins in the 1950s with the brutal murder of the central protagonist, Nina Hardy, at the hands of a mentally and physically scarred veteran of the First World War.
What follows is an explanation of the motivation leading to the murder, of her childhood, her parents' lives, the brutality of war and the aftermath of her demise. The novel's narrative jumps between times and between narrators cohesively.
The title itself comes from the shade (or ghost) of Nina Hardy which, travelling through time, is able to review but not change the events leading to its loss of corporeality. Along with accounts of analogous occurrences that foreshadow Nina's brutal end, the impotence of her ghost to actually alter its fate lends a poignant air of inevitability to the entire story. The book is strongly descriptive, especially visually, and deals with emotional issues with plenty of narrative tricks and a strong literary style.
2004 Irish novels
Irish historical novels
John Murray (publishing house) books
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