The Giant, O'Brien

Name: The Giant, O'Brien
Brand: Recorded Books
Availability: InStock
Author: Hilary Mantel
ISBN: 9781470366766

Author: Hilary Mantel

Narrator: Patrick Moy

Unabridged: 6 hr 20 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 04/18/2014

Categories: Fiction, Literary Fiction

Synopsis

London, 1782: center of science and commerce, home to the newly rich and the desperately poor. In the midst of it all is the Giant, O'Brien, a freak of nature, a man of song and story who trusts in myths, fairies, miracles, and little people. He has come from Ireland to exhibit his size for money. O'Brien's opposite is a man of science, the famed anatomist John Hunter, who lusts after the Giant's corpse as a medical curiosity, a boon to the advancement of scientific knowledge. In her acclaimed novel, two-time Man Booker Prize winning author Hilary Mantel tells of the fated convergence of Ireland and England. As belief wrestles knowledge and science wrestles song, so The Giant, O'Brien calls to us from a fork in the road as a tale of time, and a timeless tale.

About Hilary Mantel

English author, Dame Hilary Mary Mantel, was born in Glossop, Derbyshire in 1952. She attended St. Charles Roman Catholic primary school in the mill village of Hadfield. Her parents were actually Irish descent, but were born in England. Mantel's father divorced her mother and left when she was eleven years old. She never saw him again. Her mother did not marry, but spent her life with Jack Mantel, from whom Hilary took his name as her surname. Her schooling ended with a bachelor's degree in Jurisprudence in 1973. She then worked in social work in a geriatric hospital.

Her books include historical fiction, including a trilogy about Thomas Cromwell's rise to power under King Henry VIII. They were Wolf Hall, Bring Up the Bodies, and The Mirror and the Light (which was just released in the UK in March of 2020). She twice won the Booker Award.

In keeping with her unconventional life, Hilary married Gerald McEwen, a geologist in 1972, and they lived in exotic places such as Botswana and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. They were divorced after he gave up geology to be her business manager, but then remarried.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Mike on December 12, 2023

Only my second book by Hilary Mantel and not a mention of Cromwell…apart from a pejorative comment ‘Cromwellian.’ The book is set in the 1780’s and is an embellished true story about an Irish giant who comes to England - Charles ‘O’Brien and John Hunter - an anatomist who wants his bones. The languag......more

Goodreads review by Erica on October 19, 2012

I have read several other books by Mantel, and enjoyed them all. But this one stands out, not just as an enjoyable read, but as an excellent piece of literature. Mantel is a reliably good author - engaging, smooth, and honest. But sometimes, an author manages to rise above "good," and create somethi......more

Goodreads review by Girish on June 29, 2022

Horror comes in many forms but the most subtle form is of impending danger. Like showing little red riding hood happily prancing around and in the next frame showing a big bad wolf scheming for its next prey. That is what Ms.Mantle achieves in this brilliant narrative based on a true event. We meet t......more

Goodreads review by Peter on April 03, 2022

Based on two real-life characters this is a mixture of historical fiction, myth and fable. Charles O'Brien, a gentle Irish giant, travelled to London along with his entourage in 1782 to be exhibited to citizens of that city and John Hunter, a celebrated surgeon and anatomist, who buys dead bodies on......more

Goodreads review by Callum on July 18, 2023

Who can rival Mantel for the ability to write sentences that just sweep you up and knock you down at the same time. She is so damn readable and then on ever page there’s a line that just leaps out. I just bloody love her. The Giant O’Brien follows the eponymous Irishman, his agent and a band of fell......more