Festival of Ideas: Neil Jordan

Neil Jordan
Carnivalesque
Tue 14 March 2017, 19:00-20:00
Waterstones
£6/£4

Neil Jordan, award-winning author, screenwriter and director, discusses his work, in particular his new novel Carnivalesque, a dark, modern fairy-tale reminiscent of the work of his former mentor, Angela Carter.

It looked like any other carnival, but of course it wasn't…

It had its own little backstreets, its alleyways of hanging bulbs and ghost trains and Punch and Judy stands …

And at the end of one he saw the Hall of Mirrors. There were looping strings of carnival lights leading towards it, and a large sign in mirrored glass reading 'Burleigh's Amazing Hall of Mirrors' and the sign reflected the lights in all sorts of magically distorted ways.

Drawn to the hall of mirrors, Andy, the novel’s young protagonist, enters and is hypnotised by the many selves staring back at him. Sometime later, one of those selves walks out rejoins his parents – leaving Andy trapped inside the glass, snatched from the tensions of his suburban home and transported to a world where the laws of gravity are meaningless and time performs acrobatic tricks.

And now an identical stranger inhabits Andy's life, unsettling his mother with a curious blankness, as mysterious events start unfolding in their Irish coastal town…

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