Life
Author of Half Moon Lake (2003), containing characters inspired by childhood in Ballinderry; ed. Queens; MA on Civil Rights Movement appeared
in part in Irish News; features writer and interviewer on Sunday Press; joined RTÉ Press Office in 1995; ed. Futura, fashion magazine, after June Considine; wrote at Anam Cara, W. Cork writers’ and artists’
retreat ; the novel arises from memory of childhood incident concerning three men caught in dinghy explosion, two of whom survive with memories of what it is like to drown; also involves a somewhat autobiographical relationship between teenage girl and menopausal mother.
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Works
Half Moon Lake (Dublin: TownHouse; London: Simon & Schuster/Pocket
Books 2003), 412pp.
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Criticism
Interview with Una Brankin, Books Ireland (March 2003), in Books Ireland (March 2003), p.47 [as in Life, supra].
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Commentary
Sue Leonard, review of Una Brankin, Half Moon Lake (Pocket Books/TownHouse), in Books Ireland (May 2003): tells of Grace Kane and the three ‘vultures’ Bobby, Ignatius and Georgina, who encircle her bedawaiting her death in an attempt to win back the family farm; reveals secret love of Grace which has caused her to live a celibate life. Leonard finds some poignant moments but thinks the whole excessively gloomy. (p.117.)
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