Map of Ireland by Stephanie Grant

Map of Ireland

A Novel

Stephanie Grant

Edgy and erotic, Grant’s second novel (after The Passion of Alice) runs a complex story of urban racial conflict through a YA-feeling filter. The year is 1974, and 16-year-old Ann Ahern has a crush on her French teacher, the Senegalese Mademoiselle Eugenie. It is not the gender of her crush that troubles Ann–she has long known she likes girls–but rather the color of Mademoiselle’s skin. The backdrop of Ann’s adolescence is the desegregation of south Boston public schools, and the sight of black faces in her school fills her with equal parts resentment and lust; her response to this confusion takes the form of a light pyromania, and as racial strife worsens, it is clear that Ann has wandered into a conflict between the Black Panthers and several racist groups. When a gang of white kids torch Mademoiselle Eugenie’s car, Ann embarks on an adventure that awakens her conscience and sexual identity. Grant is most successful in depicting Ann’s internal coming-of-age, but the world outside Ann’s head is frequently elusive, and her final acting out may crush any sympathy readers feel toward her. (Mar.)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. –This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

They were lovers; they were colleagues. At one point, hotshot Minneapolis lawyers Lena Grant and Nick Ward were even husband and wife. Now divorced, they find themselves in the unlikeliest of relationships. Having pulled an outrageous public-relations stunt involving 100 live lobsters, the city’s supply of road salt, and the mayor’s swimming pool–all in the cause of animal rights–Nick is committed to a local psychiatric hospital. While criminal charges are pending, the only way Nick can avoid jail time for his altruistic antics will be if Lena agrees to act as his supervisor–and Nick needs a lot of supervision. When Nick moves back into the home they once shared, Lena is reintroduced to the dozens of behaviors that caused their divorce, as well as being reminded of just why they fell in love in the first place. Poignant and outrageous, moving and profound, Evans’ delectable debut novel thrums with zesty dialogue and a memorably zany cast of irresistible characters. –Carol Haggas –This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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