Shade - Softcover

'As well as being a haunting and powerful novel, Shade ... has a cinematic quality that compels the reader to visualise the events.' -- Big Issue 20050509 'An intriguing story' -- Bradford Telegraph & Argus 20050514 'A lyrical, immaculately told drama' -- Good Housekeeping 20050501 'With this fierce, dark and yet luminous novel, Neil Jordan once again demonstrates that he is one of Ireland's most talented artists' -- John Banville 'Compelling, intriguing, at once a human drama and a fascinating metaphysical mystery, Shade courses its way, like the river Boyne that runs through it, steadily, patiently, but thankfully, never predictably, before reaching its final, heartbreaking denouement. Triumphant.' -- Patrick McCabe 'His cinematic sensibility yields prose of the most bewitching kind' -- Sunday Times 20050529 'Although Jordan obsessively describes the Irish landscape, it's his dialogue and characterisation that shine' -- Independent on Sunday 20050515 'Desperately compelling ... Meditative and compulsive, Shade continues to haunt long after the book is closed.' -- Observer 20050522

Nina Hardy has been murdered. She died in the house where she grew up, killed by George, her childhood friend. But her body is never found, and she remains, a silent shade, watching the events of her own afterlife. As her brother and best friend meet and remember their childhood lives together, a remarkable story unfolds. Shade is at once an unforgettable portrait of childhood, a powerful story of love in its many forms, and a moving tragedy of lost innocence. Written with astonishing insight and perception, it confirms Neil Jordan as one of the most mesmerising voices in contemporary fiction.