Product Description
The Fallen
Author(s): Louise Brangan
Format: Paperback
The Magdalene Laundries and Ireland’s Legacy of Silence
When the gates of the last Magdalene Laundry closed in 1996, Ireland moved on. Or so it seemed.
'Enraging ... superb' — JOHN BANVILLE, Guardian
'Remarkable' — Sunday Times
'An extraordinary gift ... both an education and a page-turner' — Doireann Ní Ghríofa
'Highly readable and intelligently engaging' FINTAN O' — Toole, Tls
'Indispensable' — Anne Enright
'A terrific unearthing of Ireland's shadowland. A landmark book' — Rory Carroll
'Vivid, fluent ... a serious contribution to a subject that has still not been laid to rest' — Irish Times
'Powerful ... authoritative, passionate' — Mail on Sunday
Published to coincide with the thirtieth anniversary of the last Laundry's closure, The Fallen is the forgotten story of the Magdalene Laundries, told through the voices of the women who endured them, the nuns who presided over them and the communities that lived alongside them.
Unflinching and compassionate, Louise Brangan draws on archives and survivors' testimonies to dismantle long-held myths about what the Laundries were, who was sent to these places of violence and secrecy, and why. As we move from the past into the present, Brangan compels us not only to confront this shameful history, but to ask a deeper question: what do we choose to remember?
'Engrossing ... it feels part novel' — MARY McCARTHY, Irish Independent
'Critical, informed and beautifully written' — Máiréad Enright
'A forensic ... detailed and haunting history' SEÁN O' — HAGAN, Observer
Winner of the 2024 Royal Society of Literature Giles St Aubyn Award
About the Author
Dr Louise Brangan is an Irish academic who researches injustice and punishment. She is a 2023 BBC and AHRC New Generation Thinker and winner of the 2024 Royal Society of Literature Giles St Aubyn Award. She lives and works in Scotland.
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