Listen as author Charles Foran discusses the history and context behind the writing of Carolan's Farewell in this series of exclusive videos.
Based on the life of Terence Carolan, a legendary blind composerand harper who travelled the 18th-century Irish countryside, Carolan’sFarewell is gifted writer Charles Foran’s most luminousand mischievousnovelyet. It is 1737, and the ailing Carolan, having completed an arduous pilgrimage,is returning home across a famine-ravaged Ireland. By his side is Owen Connor,his faithful companion. Master and servant, they are like Don Quixote and SanchoPanza, friends to the end.
 A tender, funny, sad and utterly delightful storywith priceless dialogue on every page, Carolan’s Farewell is anote-perfect read.

Carolans Farewell

Literature & Fiction

Foran, Charles

Literary

Harpercollins

Sketches in winter: A Beijing postscript

<ul>
<li>Winner of the QSPELL Award 
</li>
<li>Chosen as the best book of the year by Maclean’s, the Toronto Star,Quill &amp; Quire and NOW Magazine.</li>
</ul>
In the 1970s, Charles Foran met the McNallys, a Catholic family living in Belfast. Many years and many trips later, Foran came to see their home as a window onto the often violent and volatile world of Northern Ireland.
First published to great acclaim in 1995, The Last House of Ulster continues to resonate with readers today. This is the storyof Mairtin, arrested at twenty as a member of the IRA, of his sister Patricia who, dazed and exhausted, approaches a soldier and demands that he lower his gun, and of gentle Sean, who grows up knowing that he must leave Belfast. Mostof all, this is the story of James and Maureen McNally, who struggle to hold on to their own hopes and dreams while raising their family in a war-torn country.

The Last House Of Ulster

Biographies & Memoirs

Community & Culture

Harper-perennial

In 1971, ten-year-old Charlie Foran handed in a Grade Five writing project called The Story of My Life (so far). In this revised and expanded version of that early effort, award-winning author Charles Foran relates the story of his boyhood, told from a boy's perspective. Dropped squarely into the soul and psyche of a child -- a creature absorbed with nicknames and swear words, God and sin, girls in skirts and his own bulging pants -- we see the world as only a six- or seven-year-old can, a place where the imagination is fantastical and unfettered and connections, often cosmic, rarely logical, flow as naturally as thoughts and words.At age five, Charlie worries about getting lost in an "apartment store". At seven, the mysteries of first communion having been revealed, Charlie finds he can no longer eat baloney sandwiches without thinking of The Body of Christ -- and barf. At eight, Charlie reasons that his soaked running shoes will giveaway to his mother that he kissed a girl down by the at ten, he awakens to the realization that words can cause more pain than punches, especially when the target seems defenseless.

The Story of My Life So Far: A Happy Childhood

Reference

Catalogs & Directories

From Publishers Weekly\nIn graceful and ironic style, Foran, a young Canadian who taught in Beijing in 1989 and 1990, tells of the lives and hopes of students he grew close to. The 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, after which Foran left for eight months, is the omnipresent lens for his account. Zhou Shuren, a rock 'n' roll-loving "artist as yet undiscovered by his art," tells of his arrest, imprisonment and coercion by the police to translate the potentially subversive lyrics of his Duran Duran tape. To Foran, outdoor basketball games provide an opportunity to sketch the taxonomy of the school: undergraduates, seeking freedom and self-expression, make lousy teammates, while older players "had long since given up expelling anger physically." A brief section about the days surrounding Tiananmen is punctuated with resonant quotations from the Chinese essayist Lu Xun. After the massacre, some students avoid fraternizing with their foreign teacher; others ask desperately about emigration. One laments, "We have nothing and believe in nothing also." Yet another bravely plans to write a thesis on the politically incorrect topic of media coverage during the student movement. 
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Sketches in Winter: A Beijing Postscript

Perennial

The Story of My Life (So Far)

HarperCollins Publishers,Inc.

Luminous and mischievous, Carolan’s Farewell is the story of a journey home and of changing times. In 18th-century Ireland, the legendary harper Carolanand his faithful companion Owen Connor make a final ride across a countrysideravaged by famine and the collapse of old traditions, but still alive with spirit andenergy. Carolan’s Farewell is tender, sad and funny, a haunting novel filled withmusic and humour, the warmth of friendship and the lore of Ireland.

Carolan's Farewell

Contemporary

Dominic Wilson, president of WilCor Communications, Hong Kong, is in the process of not being arrested for unspecified crimes he didn’t commit. Detained in the remote city of Bon in the last frontier of a remote Asian country known as Gyatso, Dominic remembers a quote from a tourist guide: The imagination of Gyatso is infinite. Placed under a seemingly benign form of house arrest, told that his flight has been cancelled, Dominic wonders about imagination and reality, trust and deception, pleasure and guilt  and his true reasons for being there.House on Fire is Charles Foran’s startling new novel, a multi-layered blend of political and personal thriller that is a brilliant departure for this gifted and highly acclaimed writer. A skilled literary reflection of Tibet’s struggle against its Chinese oppressors, it is the story of Dominic Wilson, a transplanted Canadian and former journalist, now living in Hong Kong with his wife and two young children. He tells authorities he has traveled to Gyatso on a holiday, but is actually there to interview the author of a short story  a story that haunts his entire existence. Now he has found himself in the middle of a political no-man’s land. Is Sun Nanping, the man who introduces himself as the head of the Bon tourism office, actually Dominic’s chief jailer? Is Paddy Chan, with his Asian features, bleached hair and Irish accent, really a friend? What about Kuno, a 12-year-old boy who leads Dominic to his dissident author one minute, but spouts ruling doctrine in the next? There are no easy answers in the clash between East and West, between oppressor and oppressed, and in the dichotomy of a city that teems with vicious wild dogs on its streets and satellite dishes on its roofs.With the pacing of a classic thriller, and shot through with the mysteries of place and passion, House on Fire is an edgy, complex and compelling novel.

House On Fire Tpb

Born in 1921 into a working-class family, Maurice Richard came of age as a French Canadian and an athlete during an era when the majority population of Quebec slumbered. A proud, reticent man, Richard aspired only to score goals and win championships for the Montreal Canadiens. But he represented far more than an explosive forward who filled seats in NHL arenas; Richard’s on-ice ferocity and off-ice dignity echoed the change in Quebec . The March 1955 “Richard Riot” contained the seeds of transformation. And by the time he retired in 1960, Quebec had begun to reinvent itself as a modern, secular society. Charles Foran argues that the province’s passionate identification with Richard’s success and struggles emboldened its people and changed Canada irrevocably.

Extraordinary Canadians: Maurice Richard

Penguin Canada

Born in 1921 into a working-class family, Maurice Richard came of age as a French Canadian and athlete during an era when the majority population of Quebec slumbered. A proud, reticent man, Richard aspired only to score goals and win championships for the Montreal Canadiens. But he represented far more than a high-scoring forward who filled seats in NHL arenas. Beginning with his 50-goal, 50-game season in 1944-45 and through his battles with the league over bigotry toward French-Canadian players, Richard's on-ice ferocity and off-ice dignity echoed the change in Quebec. The March 1955 “Richard Riot,” in which fans went on a rampage to protest his suspension, contained the seeds of transformation. By the time Richard retired in 1960, Quebec had begun to reinvent itself as a modern, secular society. Author Charles Foran argues that the province's passionate identification with Richard's success and struggles emboldened its people and changed Canada irrevocably.

VIKING

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Foran, Charles. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Foran, Charles

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Foran, Charles. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Carolans Farewell

Sketches in winter: A Beijing postscript

The Last House Of Ulster

The Story of My Life So Far: A Happy Childhood

Sketches in Winter: A Beijing Postscript

The Story of My Life (So Far)

Carolan's Farewell

House On Fire Tpb

Extraordinary Canadians: Maurice Richard

Extraordinary Canadians: Maurice Richard