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The Silver Swan (Quirke #2)

3.4 of 5 stars 3.40 · rating details · 1,414 ratings · 238 reviews

The inimitable Quirke returns in another spellbinding crime novel, in which a young woman’s dubious suicide sets off a new string of hazards and deceptions.

Two years have passed since the events of the bestselling Christine Falls, and much has changed for Quirke, the irascible, formerly hard-drinking Dublin pathologist. His beloved Sarah is dead, his surrogate father lies...more

Hardcover, 304 pages

Published March 4th 2008 by Henry Holt and Co. (first published November 1st 2007)

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Mar 20, 2008 Paul rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is the new (second) novel written by John Banville under the pen name Benjamin Black. I think I was first on the reserve list at the MCPL. I had enjoyed the first Black book, "Christine Falls," so much that I was quite eager to get my hands on this one.

I was disappointed. I truly enjoyed my visit to Dublin that Black/Banville provided (it's one of my favorite towns) but notwithstanding that, I thought the characters acted in ways that were not in harmony with their natures.

I won't make th...more

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Feb 05, 2009 Bookmarks Magazine added it

The Silver Swan raises two major questions: First, is Black-the-crime-novelist as good as Banville-the-novelist? Second, does The Silver Swan live up to expectations raised by Christine Falls? Not surprisingly, critics diverge on both questions. A few think that Black's crime novels don't stand up to Banville's best work. "This distracting mediocrity doesn't suit him at all," notes The Globe and Mail. Others cite Black as a genre-bending novelist intent on using the noir framework to successfull

...more

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Nov 20, 2008 Ian Mapp rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: crime

Quirke is back, in a similar setup to last time. A friend (from a long time ago)'s wive has been found in the sea, naked and an apparent suicude. He asks quirke not to complete an autopsy as he doesnt want her cut up.

This raises Quirkes interest. Remember, he is a pathologist rather than a policeman so Black has the job of credibly getting him to investigate the story.

First a little background inforomation. His friends wife is Deidree but she has a professional name of Laura Swan - a beautician...more

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Apr 25, 2013 Mal Warwick rated it 4 of 5 stars

A novel of suspense set in Dublin that will keep you guessing until the end

The Booker Prize-winning Irish author John Banfield, aka Benjamin Black, writes a series of offbeat crime stories about a Dublin-based pathologist named Quirke. The Silver Swan is the second of the five novels he’s written to date. It’s also the first that I’ve read — and it won’t be the last.

Like many of the best crime writers, Black focuses on character, atmosphere, and language as much as on plot. The sure hand of a ma...more A novel of suspense set in Dublin that will keep you guessing until the end

The Booker Prize-winning Irish author John Banfield, aka Benjamin Black, writes a series of offbeat crime stories about a Dublin-based pathologist named Quirke. The Silver Swan is the second of the five novels he’s written to date. It’s also the first that I’ve read — and it won’t be the last.

Like many of the best crime writers, Black focuses on character, atmosphere, and language as much as on plot. The sure hand of a master stylist is very much in evidence in The Silver Swan. You’ll see it in the dialogue, where the individual speech patterns of his characters are distinctive, and in his lyrical descriptions of Dublin in the rain. If you read this book to the end, you might think you’ve gotten to know Quirke, and you may like him. You might also have a sense of Dublin, even if you’ve never been there.

In The Silver Swan, Quirke is approached by someone he knew (and disliked) at university with a strange request: presenting himself as an old friend, Billy Hunt asks Quirke not to do a postmortem on his young wife, Deirdre, who has apparently committed suicide by drowning herself in the ocean. Billy explains that he just couldn’t stand the thought that her beautiful body would be cut up by knives. For no particular reason — Quirke understands irrational impulses, his own among others — he has every intention of granting Billy’s wish until he discovers the puncture mark of a needle on the young woman’s arm. He’s forced to proceed — and learns, of course, that Deirdre was not a suicide.

In a more traditional crime novel, Quirke would probably join his colleagues in the police in a hunt for the killer, no doubt proving himself a far cleverer detective than the professionals. That’s not what transpires in The Silver Swan. Although he worked with a senior officer on another case (the subject of Black’s first crime novel, Quirke has no formal connection to the police, known as the Garda in Ireland. To prevent Billy Hunt from discovering what he has learned from the autopsy, Quirke lies to the Garda and lies on the stand in the coroner’s court, then undertakes his own, private investigation. This effort leads him into a troubling and complex set of interrelationships involving the murdered woman, her husband, her lover, and her lover’s husband, all the while he engages in a verbal minuet with the police inspector who understands perfectly well that Quirke had lied to him about the autopsy.

Oh, it’s a fine mess, in the best Irish tradition! This is a novel that’s likely to keep you guessing until the final pages.(less)

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Apr 15, 2013 Ellie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013-individualchallenge, fiction, irish, mystery, series

I'm hooked on Quirke-the taciturn, rather unfriendly "hero" of Benjamin Black (aka John Banville) mystery series. The Silver Swan is the second in the series (and the second I've read). Laura Swan (real name: Deirdre Hunt) is dead and her husband has contacted morgue pathologist Quirke requesting Quirke not do a post-mortem. Of course, this awakens Quirke's (already infamous from the first book in the series) curiosity. Once again, Quirke is drawn into a mess of murder (and dubious sexual activi...more

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Jan 21, 2013 Paolo Gianoglio rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Trovo difficile ogni commento. Per certi versi mi verrebbe da dire che è un libro magistrale, per come riesce a farti leggere oltre 320 pagine sfiorando una storia senza toccarla mai. Le cose accadono lente, lentissime, i fatti veri sono tutti negli ultimi capitoli, ci sono parti intere di questo libro che potrebbero essere cancellate senza perdere un briciolo di senso, ma anche senza spostare l'equilibrio dei personaggi e delle loro angosce esistenziali. Ma se da un lato tutto questo è magistra...more

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Nov 18, 2012 Shonna Froebel rated it 3 of 5 stars

This second in a series featuring Dublin pathologist Quirke is by John Banville, writing as Benjamin Black. This is set a few years after Christine Falls, the first in the series and opens with Quirke being asked a favour by an old schoolfriend. The friend's wife has been found dead, naked and seemingly drowned and he asks that a postmortem not be done. He says he doesn't want her body dealt with in that way. Quirke is intrigued and agrees, but finds interesting information when he examines the...more

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Sep 14, 2012 Karen A. rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: crime-fiction, mystery, suspense

Meh!! This was like Masterpiece Mystery without the Master. Something I would normally watch if there is nothing else on.

The main detective, Quirke, who is actually a coroner for the city of Dublin, is a conflicted man, haunted by his past (blah blah blah) so much so that he is really ineffectual and mostly a non-character through out the book. This makes me wonder how you build a series around such a man?? The other characters are only slightly more intriguing. There is Diedre Hunt who discove...more

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Jul 26, 2012 Nancy Oakes rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: irish-crime-fiction-and-mystery

With Quirke's life now in a bit more of a muddle after the revelations made in Christine Falls, he is making more of an attempt to stay off the drink, but he always needs that one more -- but "of course, it would not be just the one." But it's over tea that he meets with Billy Hunt, an old schoolmate he hasn't seen in years. Billy's wife Deirdre was found in the waters of Sandycove Bay, seemingly a victim of suicide, and he asks Quirke to forego an autopsy, claiming that he can't stand thinking...more With Quirke's life now in a bit more of a muddle after the revelations made in Christine Falls, he is making more of an attempt to stay off the drink, but he always needs that one more -- but "of course, it would not be just the one." But it's over tea that he meets with Billy Hunt, an old schoolmate he hasn't seen in years. Billy's wife Deirdre was found in the waters of Sandycove Bay, seemingly a victim of suicide, and he asks Quirke to forego an autopsy, claiming that he can't stand thinking of her "sliced up," wanting to preserve his memories of her before she died. By law, Quirke is required to do a postmortem, but agrees to see what he can do for Billy. Back in the morgue he lifts the plastic sheet covering Deirdre, a hairdresser who also went by the professional name of Laura Swan, and while he's trying to picture what may have happened to her, he comes across a small puncture mark on the inner side of one of her arms. While struggling over what course of action he should take now, his better judgment warns him to "stay on dry land," but

"he knew he would dive, headfirst, into the depths. Something in him yearned for the darkness there."

Conducting an unofficial autopsy anyway, Quirke realizes that this was no suicide and begins his own investigation. Offered to readers from an omniscient, third-person pov that frequently switches, as Quirke sets to work trying to figure out exactly what's happened, and as his daughter Phoebe becomes caught up in her story in her own way, Deirdre's story is revealed, little by little via flashbacks, interspersed with action in the present. The Silver Swan reveals a nightmarish view from below, so to speak, in various forms of darkness that envelop seemingly ordinary people in the city.

There are some incredible characterizations here beyond the main players of this series: Dr. Kreutz, a "spiritual healer" who, along with Leslie White, slowly begin to erode Deirdre's sense of freedom; Billy Hunt, Deirdre's husband, and Deirdre herself, who wants to rise above her origins and make something of herself but who makes some very bad decisions. But what really sucks you in is the whole nightmarish scene of what people are capable of -- and Deirdre's story takes you down into an abyss among some of the worst.

Definitely recommended, but let me say something here. Black's focus is not so much on plotting the perfect crime or following the success or failure of the police investigations in this book, or for that matter in any of his books -- it's largely on the characters who inhabit the streets of Dublin and the forces around them that lead them to act as they do. If you would keep that in mind as you read, it will make the experience that much better. (less)

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Jul 25, 2012 Larraine rated it 5 of 5 stars

In the novel preceding this one, Christine Falls, we meet Dr. Quirke, an obsessive and trouble pathologist in an Irish hospital. In that novel, Quirke discovers his brother-in-law altering the file of a dead woman. Quirke, who describes himself as "curious," retrieves and examines the young woman's body. Before we know it, he has discovered a ring of illegal adoptions run by the Catholic Church in Ireland.

In this second novel in the series, Quirke is back - still obsessive, still curious. He's...more In the novel preceding this one, Christine Falls, we meet Dr. Quirke, an obsessive and trouble pathologist in an Irish hospital. In that novel, Quirke discovers his brother-in-law altering the file of a dead woman. Quirke, who describes himself as "curious," retrieves and examines the young woman's body. Before we know it, he has discovered a ring of illegal adoptions run by the Catholic Church in Ireland.

In this second novel in the series, Quirke is back - still obsessive, still curious. He's given up drinking and, so, as a widower with a daughter who grew up thinking of him as her uncle, he has nobody to go home to at night and nowhere to go. Instead he takes long walks and thinks about his life. This second book in the Quirke series, tells the story of a bizarre suicide of a young woman married to someone Quirke knew at university.

Billy Hunt calls Quirke in tears begging him not to do an autopsy. Ireland is still run by the church in this post WWII period. If her suicide is made public, there will be a scandal, plus she will be refused burial by the Church. Quirke agrees but then notices a needle mark.

Soon his obsessive curiosity leads him to try to learn exactly what happened. We learn that the dead woman, Deirdre Hunt, had adopted the name of Laura Swan when she met Leslie White, a swave, silver-haired con man. They open an upscale salon and, for a while, things are going well. Deirdre has a new car, new refrigerator and is looking forward to a mink coat. However, things soon fall apart.

This is not a fast read. Benjamin Black is the pen name of John Banville, a Mann Booker award winner. The author's protagonist, Quirke, thinks deeply about everything and approaches his curiosity with obsession laced with care. A review of Christine Falls described the book as an onion the reader unfolds until they get to the rotten core. That's a good description of this one also.

In Quirke's (and Benjamin Black's) world there is darkness and corruption behind the facade of the happy Irish face. Reading this can make you feel slightly gritty at the end, but the language is worth the risk.(less)

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May 11, 2010 Deborah Moulton rated it 4 of 5 stars

For some reason, this second book by Benjamn Black (a.k.a. Irish Booker-Prize winner John Banville) was easier to get into than the first one. 1950s Ireland is just as parochial and repressed as I had imagined. Although I like the weather which is very Seattle-like.

This is a novel of 1950s-era sexual predators and con men, but without church involvement. Their prey are women: women with money, women with access to drugs, women who long for spiritual fulfillment, women of diminished hopes, lonel...more For some reason, this second book by Benjamn Black (a.k.a. Irish Booker-Prize winner John Banville) was easier to get into than the first one. 1950s Ireland is just as parochial and repressed as I had imagined. Although I like the weather which is very Seattle-like.

This is a novel of 1950s-era sexual predators and con men, but without church involvement. Their prey are women: women with money, women with access to drugs, women who long for spiritual fulfillment, women of diminished hopes, lonely women both single and married. They use a potent concoction of charm, sex, alcohol and violence to make their initial conquests and then bind the woment to them.

It would be tempting to paint these women in modern psychological terms and say that they are insecure, uncertain of their true selves, and owners of an acute lack of self-esteem. But I think it is anger that fuels them to seek their own oblivion in ever-descending circles of violence and misfortune.

It's not so much that they think they deserve it, but that they are angry at the constriction of their lives by marriage, low expectations, and societal norms. They live in a strait-jacket and they are willing to trade personal ruin for a chance to live and be sexual, even if the men are bad.

The initial excitement is the heady fulfillment of a woman's dream: not a man to settle for, but a handsome, exciting, attentive, desirable and charming man who has chosen them and thus thwarted all the other aggressive women who openly pursue him.

The tragedy lies in the trick of the con man. He charms with a purpose and without a conscience. He may steal or find a willing victim for his violence or sexual degradations and he will leave the instant he finds a better mark or the old one becomes too demanding.

What happens to the woman afterward is none of his concern. And some, including the primary con man in this book, will have a streak of malicious mischief: finding a clever way to let the cuckold know.

Any and all damages inflicted on the woman and her mate provide no satisfaction for the con man because he really doesn't care one way or the other. But it does momentarily satisfy his itch to be cruel and punish the woman for ruining the good game he had going for a while.

This is the path of women who have no other way in society to realize their individual hopes and dreams. She's the Madonna or the whore. A virtuous woman who repels all advances or a fallen woman who gives in out of her inner desperation to experience a little of the woman's dream. The middle ground is nowhere to be seen.(less)

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Mar 09, 2010 Terri rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2009, early-reviewers

The Silver Swan is a follow up to Christine Falls and features Garrett Quirke, a pathologist who just can't resist investigating a mystery; in this case, a suicide that turns out to be a murder. Benjamin Black (a pseudonym for John Banville) uses a noir structure in The Silver Swan to probe the human psyche. This probing of the darker areas of human activity and the human soul does not make for a very uplifting read, but that should be expected when dealing with the noir genre. The Silver Swan i...more

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Mar 09, 2010 Kat Hagedorn rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed, mystery

http://tinyurl.com/q7dc68

This is the problem when you put your book reviewing off and all of a sudden you have three, almost four, books to review in a row. Let's see... I picked this book on LibraryThing Early Reviewers because it was a foreign-published book originally and I've had more luck with those lately. That said, it was not in the same league as the latest one I chose that way.

I'm sorta phasing out on murder mysteries, unless they're absolute classics or I adore the writing. Reason bei...more

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Apr 04, 2009 Janine M rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Dublin pathologist Quirke cannot seem to tame his curiosity. After opening up a Pandora's box of family secrets in “Christine Falls,” Quirke now finds himself driven to discover how and why Deidre Hunt, aka Laura Swan, turned up dead in a lake near Dublin and ended up in his morgue. Why does Billy Hunt, his former classmate and Deidre's husband, plead with him not to do an autopsy? Why does he, Quirke, care? In his stubborn way, Quirke is like a dog with a bone: he knows he should bury it but he...more Dublin pathologist Quirke cannot seem to tame his curiosity. After opening up a Pandora's box of family secrets in “Christine Falls,” Quirke now finds himself driven to discover how and why Deidre Hunt, aka Laura Swan, turned up dead in a lake near Dublin and ended up in his morgue. Why does Billy Hunt, his former classmate and Deidre's husband, plead with him not to do an autopsy? Why does he, Quirke, care? In his stubborn way, Quirke is like a dog with a bone: he knows he should bury it but he can't seem to quit gnawing on it.

At the same time he's attempting to discover Deidre's fatal secrets, he's also trying to get closer to his daughter, who has only recently learned of the true biological relationship between them. In a word, Quirke's life is still messy, which makes his character both realistically annoying and somehow endearing. Women can't seem to help falling for him even while he works to sidestep anything that smacks of a relationship.

Balancing Quirke's dogged efforts at detection are a host of odd characters and suspects: Deidre Hunt (Laura Swan), the deceased former proprietor of The Silver Swan salon, as well as business partner and mistress to Leslie White; Billy Hunt, Deidre's husband and Quirke's former classmate; Leslie White, a somewhat effete scam artist who Quirke senses is central to Deidre's untimely end; Kate, Leslie's wife, who has kicked him out and now finds herself attracted to Quirke; Dr. Kreutz, spiritual healer, who is running his own scam on the women he treats, including Deidre; and Phoebe, Quirke's daughter, who is depressed and angry at her father and who also falls under Leslie White's spell. In addition, there are the members of Quirke's extended family circle whom we met in “Christine Falls” and whose stories continue here.

In this excellent sequel, Jonathan Black demonstrates his considerable storytelling skills in juggling all these characters and their stories. Some stories are told from the character's perspective; some are told from a more omniscient view. But eventually all merge together and lead to a satisfying conclusion. If there is one failing in this book it's that the reader keeps wishing to see more of Quirke. There's a certain level of frustration and tension created by the scarcity of the main character—but then, that's the magic and mystery of Quirke. Despite the clouds that follow him everywhere, I am definitely looking forward to his return.(less)

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Dec 13, 2008 Lourdes Fernandez Venard rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is the second in the series by Benjamin Black (author John Banville, who uses a pseudonym for his crime fiction) about a pathologist investigator. Quirke is asked by former school acquaintance Billy Hunt to forego a postmortem on his wife, the attractive Deirdre Hunt, owner of The Silver Swan beauty parlor. Of course, Quirke is now curious, and a look at the body reveals a needle mark. Deirdre, pulled from a river, was thought to have been a suicide. The scenes of Quirke’s investigation are...more

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Mar 26, 2009 Becky rated it 3 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed the Silver Swan, a book I picked up after a Slate columnist said he couldn't put it down.

The writing is indeed compelling, and the story moves along quickly, with a murdered woman and an amateur investigator at the center. I got the feeling, however, that I might get more out of it if I had read the previous book and gained more insight into the main character, a Mr. Quirke, ME.

While the book was enjoyable to read, the one downside is that I felt like there was a little too muc...more

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Sep 27, 2010 Teresa rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audio

The Silver Swan takes place in 1950s Dublin, about two years after the conclusion of Christine Falls. Quirke, six months sober, is asked by a school acquaintance, Billy Hunt, not to do an autopsy on his dead wife, Deirdre. The request piques Quirke's interest, and he starts asking questions.[return][return]As in Christine Falls, Black weaves together multiple narrative strands, allowing the reader to learn things that Quirke does not. This time, we have flashbacks to Deirdre� s final months. Ove...more

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Apr 24, 2012 Amy rated it 4 of 5 stars

John Banville is one of my favorite authors for his ingenious yarns and exquisite prose, and I will gladly read anything he writes. Mysteries, which Banville writes as Benjamin Black, are a guilty pleasure: even so, Christine Falls, his first effort, didn't quite work for me. It seemed experimental, with ever more unlikely and outrageous scenarios unfurling, begging credibility. I found The Silver Swan much more relaxed, less forced, better paced: the story more believable. I feel another outing...more

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Aug 17, 2010 KarenC rated it 2 of 5 stars

Recommended to KarenC by: next in series

Shelves: amateur_sleuths, bookmarks, murder_mystery

A murder mystery to be solved by an inept pathologist who does a bad job of trying to be an amateur detective. Quirke should stick to being a pathologist, report his complete and truthful findings at the coroner's inquest and walk away from the case. His detecting instincts are awful, causing more issues than he resolves. In this one he just gets it all wrong.

Characters seemed flat and engendered no feelings of empathy. Female characters remain the same helpless, undirected, sex objects they we

...more

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Jul 22, 2010 Pam rated it 4 of 5 stars

Having helped my friend (and ex-roommate) Martina translate this book into Czech, I had to find out the story behind the random phrases I agonized over with her (and of course, I had to read the Christine Falls, first). Christine Falls clued me into the fact that it would be a waste of my time to read this as a mere murder mystery, so I soon (faster than I picked up on it in the previous book, anyway) put my finger on a theme to this second book. Where the previous book was a web of children and...more

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Aug 15, 2011 Suzanne Auckerman rated it 4 of 5 stars

The author is a pen name for the Irish author John Banville. I have never read anything by John Banville. For Benjamin Black, the book is set in Edinburgy and the main character is Quirke, a pathologist. He sees reports or autopsies that don't match the story that is being told and begins to investigate. However, he does not have the authority and while he unravels the story to find the truth, prosecution does not always occur. Quirke is a character similar to Dave, the detective in James Burke'...more

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Jun 30, 2008 Karen Pickard-Four rated it 4 of 5 stars

love this series starring Quirke as a Dublin pathologist. This novel picks up at maybe a year after Christine Falls but can stand alone. The difference between this and say, a Michael Connelly book is the flat out beautiful writing style of Benjamin Black (aka john Banville). Some of the passages read like poetry.

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Apr 16, 2010 Mark Gromko rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery

The plot of this mystery is simple when viewed after the fact, but it is complicated in the telling in a clever way. The relationships among the characters are even more complicated than the story; the web of relationships is, in fact, the most interesting aspect of the book. The story line descends into smutty sensationalism, which entirely spoiled the book for me.

Characters such as populate this book do not exist in our day to day world. Perhaps that is part of the appeal of an escapist novel....more

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Jan 09, 2013 Wendy rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is the second book in the series by Irish writer Benjamin Black, AKA John Banville (the Sea, for which he won the Man Booker prize in 2005). This book follows the further adventures of Dublin pathologist Quirke and his complicated family. Quirke has quit drinking, which has made him grumpier than usual and on edge, as he confronts the circumstances of an old acquaintance from college. His curiosity gets the better of him when he is pulled into the mystery of the apparent suicide of this man...more

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Dec 07, 2010 Kirsty Darbyshire rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: hardback

I loved the first Benjamin Black book. This is the second and it didn't take me the same way at all. Some of the problem was that I read it really slowly, I've mentioned before that dragging through a chapter before sleep is not the way to enjoy a book. But, inversely, the rest of the problem was that I couldn't be bothered to pick the book up to read it any other time. Catch 22, maybe.

Quirke is a pathologist in 1950s Dublin. He's asked by an old acquaintance not to perform a post mortem on his

...more

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Aug 11, 2010 Katie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jul 16, 2009 Elizabeth rated it 4 of 5 stars

I'm not really a mystery reader but I like John Banville's work so much that I thought I would try his two mysteries. The Silver Swan was a great beach book in that it was well written and fascinating. Banville, writing under the pen name of Benjamin Black, creates very complex characters and the plots are fairly good. But the pleasure of a mystery story is that everything is neatly tied up - "Good" triumphs, the murderer is caught and presumably punished. Not so in this novel although the murd...more

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Oct 29, 2012 Nick Morris rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was my second dip into the world of Quirke and I really enjoyed it. The writing is engaging and the plot lines credible and well developed without the obvious piece of missing information that suddenly comes to sight. The writing style is really good with just enough detail to set the scene (Dublin bars, for example) but not stall the action.

I do have two minor reservations which mean my review is 4 (and a half stars) rather than five. The first is that the concept is so parallel to the Man...more

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Dec 26, 2011 Paul Curd rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: first-edition, crime-and-mystery, fiction

By no means a 'traditional' mystery/thriller but an enjoyable read nonetheless. The quality of the writing more than makes up for the weaknesses in the plot.

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Aug 14, 2012 Adithyajones rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

An intelligent,engaging psychological thriller from Black where he takes you to the big bad world of Ireland in the 50's with its share of characters with unfulfilled desires and dark minds out there to take advantage of it. Black maintains the atmospheric literary writing quality which made Black/Banville one of the forces in the field of literature, at the same time also follows the rules of suspense writing which is essential for this type of genre writing thereby maintaining the right balanc...more

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About Benjamin Black

Pen name for John Banville

Banville was born in Wexford, Ireland. His father worked in a garage and died when Banville was in his early thirties; his mother was a housewife. He is the youngest of three siblings; his older brother Vincent is also a novelist and has written under the name Vincent Lawrence as well as his own. His sister Vonnie Banville-Evans has written both a children's novel and a r...more Pen name for John Banville

Banville was born in Wexford, Ireland. His father worked in a garage and died when Banville was in his early thirties; his mother was a housewife. He is the youngest of three siblings; his older brother Vincent is also a novelist and has written under the name Vincent Lawrence as well as his own. His sister Vonnie Banville-Evans has written both a children's novel and a reminiscence of growing up in Wexford.

Educated at a Christian Brothers' school and at St Peter's College in Wexford. Despite having intended to be a painter and an architect he did not attend university. Banville has described this as "A great mistake. I should have gone. I regret not taking that four years of getting drunk and falling in love. But I wanted to get away from my family. I wanted to be free." After school he worked as a clerk at Aer Lingus which allowed him to travel at deeply-discounted rates. He took advantage of this to travel in Greece and Italy. He lived in the United States during 1968 and 1969. On his return to Ireland he became a sub-editor at the Irish Press, rising eventually to the position of chief sub-editor. His first book, Long Lankin, was published in 1970.

After the Irish Press collapsed in 1995, he became a sub-editor at the Irish Times. He was appointed literary editor in 1998. The Irish Times, too, suffered severe financial problems, and Banville was offered the choice of taking a redundancy package or working as a features department sub-editor. He left. Banville has been a regular contributor to The New York Review of Books since 1990. In 1984, he was elected to Aosdána, but resigned in 2001, so that some other artist might be allowed to receive the cnuas.

Banville also writes under the pen name Benjamin Black. His first novel under this pen name was Christine Falls, which was followed by The Silver Swan in 2007. Banville has two adult sons with his wife, the American textile artist Janet Dunham. They met during his visit to San Francisco in 1968 where she was a student at the University of California, Berkeley. Dunham described him during the writing process as being like "a murderer who's just come back from a particularly bloody killing". Banville has two daughters from his relationship with Patricia Quinn, former head of the Arts Council of Ireland.

Banville has a strong interest in vivisection and animal rights, and is often featured in Irish media speaking out against vivisection in Irish university research.

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