The Dark, widely acclaimed is John McGahern’s sensitive and beautifully written portrayal of a young man’s coming-of-age in rural Ireland. Imaginative and introverted, the boy is successful in school, but bitterly confused by the guilt-inducing questions he endures from the teachers.
His relationship with his bullying, bigoted, widowed father is similarly conflicted and is touched with both deep love and carefully suppressed hatred.
The Dark was first published in 1967 and was quickly banned in Ireland. This was McGahern’s second novel after the success of The Barracks.
Our copy is a Panther paperback that was published in 1971. An early paperback edition of a great Irish novel.