As clever as it is deeply human, The Ninth Hour explores the Catholic faith and the lasting questions of recompense and genuine kindness. Pristinely written, as is all Alice McDermott, this is another masterpiece that will resonate with your sensibility.
From the National Book Award winner and Pulitzer Prize finalist Alice McDermott, The Ninth Hour is the critically acclaimed “haunting and vivid portrait of an Irish Catholic clan in early twentieth century America” (The Associated Press). One of Time Magazine’s Top Ten Novels of the Year A 2017 Kirkus Prize Finalist A New York Times Book Review Notable Book
On a dim winter afternoon, a young Irish immigrant opens a gas tap in his Brooklyn tenement. He is determined to prove—to the subway bosses who have recently fired him, to his pregnant wife—that “the hours of his life . . . belonged to himself alone.” In the aftermath of the fire that follows, Sister St. Saviour, an aging nun, a Little Nursing Sister of the Sick Poor, appears, unbidden, to direct the way forward for his widow and his unborn child.
In Catholic Brooklyn in the early part of the twentieth century, decorum, superstition, and shame collude to erase the man’s brief existence, and yet his suicide, though never spoken of, reverberates through many lives—testing the limits and the demands of love and sacrifice, of forgiveness and forgetfulness, even through multiple generations. Rendered with remarkable delicacy, heart, and intelligence, Alice McDermott’s The Ninth Hour is a crowning achievement of one of the finest American writers at work today.
Alice McDermott is the author of eight novels, including The Ninth Hour; Someone; After This; Charming Billy, winner of the 1998 National Book Award; At Weddings and Wakes; and That Night—all published by FSG. That Night, At Weddings and Wakes, and After This were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize. Her stories and essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine, and other publications. For more than two decades she was the Richard A. Macksey Professor for Distinguished Teaching in the Humanities at Johns Hopkins University and a member of the faculty at the Sewanee Writers’ Conference. McDermott lives with her family outside Washington, D.C.
Hometown:
Bethesda, Maryland
Date of Birth:
June 27, 1953
Place of Birth:
Brooklyn, New York
Education:
B.A., State University of New York-Oswego, 1975; M.A., University of New Hampshire, 1978
“It does come down to that moment, when as a reader or as a writer entering into a story we say — it’s not about me, it’s about you.” That’s Alice McDermott speaking to her newest novel (and our November B&N Book Club pick) on our Poured Over podcast, which you can stream here. It’s […]
“It does come down to that moment, when as a reader or as a writer entering into a story we say — it’s not about me, it’s about you.” Alice McDermott’s Absolution shines a light on the dynamic lives of American women as they navigate the tumultuous era of the Vietnam War. McDermott joins us […]
We love talking about books and writing (and more) with authors and B&N Book Club members at our monthly Virtual Book Club discussion events. You can watch past events here on B&N’s YouTube channel and follow our national Eventbrite for event announcements and free registration. Some of our stores host in-person book club discussion events, […]
In Alice McDermott’s new novel, a family’s history exposes the power — and the cost — of religious devotion and sacrifice to others. Review by Katherine A. Powers.
Historical fiction lovers will be in Heaven this month, guided by some of the genre’s biggest names. Ken Follett takes us to 1550s England, Jim Fergus tackles the American West of the 1870s, and Jamie Ford depicts Seattle in 1909. Still not enough? How about a visit to 1940s Brooklyn with Alice McDermott or 1990s […]
