The Last September

A young woman comes of age in the midst of rising violence during the Irish Troubles in this classic novel by the author of The Death of the Heart.

County Cork, Ireland, 1920. Though she is an orphan, nineteen-year-old Lois Farquar enjoys a life of leisure supported by her uncle, Sir Richard Naylor, and his wife, Lady Myra. But just beyond the Big House, a rebellion is brewing that threatens their way of life. As the Naylors invite friends to join them—including British officers sent to quell the uprising—the tennis matches, tea parties, and romantic intrigues continue. Yet all know that the end is approaching.

Lost within a world that feels increasingly unmoored, Lois attempts to free herself from the very class that her elders are vainly defending. The Last September depicts the tensions between love and loyalty, and between tradition and emancipation. from both personal and political beliefs.