Nuala O'Connor in Conversation at Irish Literary Society (London)

In this centenary year of the publication of Ulysses the Irish Literary Society are delighted to welcome Nuala O’Connor to the Bloomsbury Hotel in London to discuss her novel Nora: A Love Story of Nora Barnacle and James Joyce.

When Nora Barnacle, a twenty-year-old from Galway working as a maid at Finn’s Hotel, meets young James Joyce on a summer’s day in Dublin, she is instantly attracted to him, natural and daring in his company. But she cannot yet imagine the extraordinary life they will share together. All Nora knows is she likes her Jim enough to leave behind family and home, in search of more. Nora is a tour de force, an earthy and authentic love letter to Irish literature’s greatest muse. The novel conjures up a portrait of Nora Barnacle from her first meeting with James Joyce, through her years in Dublin and later across Europe. It thus follows the Joyces as Nora is increasingly torn between their intense and unwavering desire for each other, and the constant anxiety of living hand to mouth, often made worse by her husband’s compulsion for company and attention.

Nuala O’Connor will be in conversation with David Collard whose own Joycean musings ‘Multiple Joyce‘ will be published in June and feature as part of our Bloomsday celebrations.