Irish journalist Toibin's first novel is a masterpiece of subtlety and nuance, especially since he writes from a woman's perspective. It is 1950 and Katherine, an artist from a wealthy family, has abruptly left her husband, her son, and Ireland for Barcelona. She soon becomes involved with Miguel, who also paints. They communicate best in bed since their languages are as different as their backgrounds. They befriend another wandering Irish painter, Michael, and all three move up into the Pyrenees. Here, their respective pasts emerge and clash: Miguel's participation in the failed war against Franco, Michael's poverty-stricken childhood and near-fatal bout with tuberculosis, and Katherine's ambivalence about her experiences during Ireland's "troubles." Katherine is a rare and fascinating creation. Positively regal, she loves Miguel without understanding him, but she finally emerges from her ruthless self-involvement to attain genuine maturity. Laconic and solemn, this gracefully episodic drama vibrates with bottled-up passions, the psychological fallout of war and suffering, and the struggle for inner peace. ~--Donna Seaman

Irish journalist Toibin's compelling tale of love and art set in the United Kingdom and Franco's Spain, makes for a rich and remarkable debut. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

This exceptional first novel has the unusual quality of taking Irish material, allegedly unique, and making it European, a matter of some significance on the brink of the 1992 European Community. Here, in 1950, Katherine Proctor flees husband, child, and County Wexford for Spain. She, a Catalan lover, and another Irish emigre, painters all, fashion new worlds in their work while fighting past worlds in their lives. Toibin sketches this predicament with restrained vignettes concentrated on Katherine's general discontents and momentary satisfactions over a number of years evoking the Irish Civil War, the Spanish Civil War, Ulster violence, and Catalonian nationalism. Thus, The South raises personal neuroses to the power of collective politics. It comes with praise from Don DeLillo and John Banville, among whose works it fits very well.-- John P. Harrington, Cooper Union, New York (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.