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The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne (New York Review Books Classics) Kindle Edition

3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 690 ratings

One of The Guardian’s “1,000 Books to Read Before You Die

This underrated classic of contemporary Irish literature tells the “utterly transfixing” story of a lonely, poverty-stricken spinster in 1950s Belfast (
The Boston Globe)

Judith Hearne is an unmarried woman of a certain age who has come down in society. She has few skills and is full of the prejudices and pieties of her genteel Belfast upbringing. But Judith has a secret life. And she is just one heartbreak away from revealing it to the world.

Hailed by Graham Greene, Thomas Flanagan, and Harper Lee alike,
The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne is an unflinching and deeply sympathetic portrait of a woman destroyed by self and circumstance. First published in 1955, it marked Brian Moore as a major figure in English literature (he would go on to be short-listed three times for the Booker Prize) and established him as an astute chronicler of the human soul.


“Seldom in modern fiction has any character been revealed so completely or been made to seem so poignantly real.”
The New York Times

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Set in Belfast in the early 1950s, Brian Moore’s The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne is not a kind book, no, but it is utterly transfixing . . . By the end of this truly brilliant, shocking novel, a story peopled by characters who make your skin crawl, the impossible has occurred: The reader both understands and feels compassion for a really awful woman.”
—Katherine A. Powers, The Boston Globe

“Remarkable . . . seldom in modern fiction has any character been revealed so completely or been made to seem so poignantly real.”
The New York Times

“A powerful haunting story by a young Irish-Canadian who knows the meaning not only of loneliness, but that of compassion as well.”
The New York Times
 
“Moore has absolute control over his narrative, and Judith Hearne’s descent is both excruciating and enthralling.”
—Anne Enright in O, The Oprah Magazine
 
“A penetrating, comic, tragic tale of a plain woman…It is a novel that occasionally sings with the lilt of the Irish greats.”
San Francisco Chronicle
 
“Brian Moore [wrote] a superb first novel;
The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne reads as freshly, and as heart-breakingly, today as it did when it first appeared in 1955.”
—John Banville
 
The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne is, to my notion, everything a novel should be.”
—Harper Lee, The New York Times (1960)

“Each book of [Moore’s] is dangerous, unpredictable, and amusing. He treats the novel as a trainer treats a wild beast.”
—Graham Greene
 
“Moore is surely one of the most versatile and compelling novelists writing today.”
Daily Telegraph

“I can’t think of another living male novelist who writes about women with such sympathy and understanding.”
Times Literary Supplement

“A harrowing tour de force.”
New Statesman and Nation

From the Publisher

'Moore is surely one of the most versatile and compelling novelists writing today.' Daily Telegraph

Brian Moore's extraordinary talent was immediately recognised when The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne, his debut novel, won the Authors' Club First Novel Award. A highly-acclaimed film based on the novel was recently made, starring Maggie Smith.

'I can't think of another living male novelist who writes about women with such sympathy and understanding.' Times Literary Supplement

'Remarkable... seldom in modern fiction has any character been revealed so completely or been made to seem so poignantly real.' New York Times

'An almost classic example of the power given by unity of theme... Mr Moore reveals all the qualities of a born novelist.' Sunday Times

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B004J4WLMI
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ NYRB Classics (August 17, 2011)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 17, 2011
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 644 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 282 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 690 ratings

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Customer reviews

3.9 out of 5 stars
690 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers praise the book for its well-written and executed narrative. They find the narrative compelling and insightful. The visual quality is described as vivid and easy to visualize. Readers appreciate the character development, describing them as warm and understanding. Opinions differ on the sadness level of the book, with some finding it sad and emotional draining while others consider it brilliant.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

26 customers mention "Writing quality"26 positive0 negative

Customers praise the writing quality of the book. They find it well-written, beautifully executed, and thought-provoking. The book is described as a real page-turner that tells a compelling story. Readers appreciate the author's skill and consider it an interesting read from the 1950s.

"...Read this book. It's not only well done, the cover of the New York Review Books Classic Edition (2010) is just fabulous." Read more

"...and privacy, and was not too comfortable doing so, such is the power of good writing...." Read more

"...However, it was very well written and somewhat compelling." Read more

"...The writing of this novel is classic, reminiscent of many other great authors from Ireland and England and the story, though small, grips you from..." Read more

9 customers mention "Narrative quality"9 positive0 negative

Customers find the narrative compelling and intriguing. They say the author creates wonderful stories with vivid descriptions. The book keeps their attention with its emotional content and entertainment value.

"The lonely passion of Judith Hearne was a powerful perspective of how two people carry on conversations while mentally arriving at different..." Read more

"I read it quickly because it kept my attention. But, it is terribly sad. I’m not a fan of super sad stories and this qualifies...." Read more

"This is the most amazing, beautifully written, tragic novel that nobody ever reads...." Read more

"...They were quite the cast, and help provide the entertainment aspect of the book. Very well done!" Read more

5 customers mention "Visual quality"5 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's visual quality. They find the drawings exquisite and vivid, with descriptions of rooms, churches, clothing, and other details easy to visualize. The prose paints bleak pictures for the reader.

"...Every detail was so easy to visualize, from descriptions of the rooms, the church, clothing, mannerisms, I felt like I was in each room with each..." Read more

"...Moore draws her in exquisite detail, so that we see a human being who is suffering and whom we can identify with..." Read more

"...To enter the world of Judith Hearne, so beautiful and so bleakly sketched, is to enter another time and place and to be invited to think about the..." Read more

"...wonderful stories but his prose also "paints" vivid pictures for the reader...." Read more

4 customers mention "Character development"4 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the well-developed characters in this emotionally charged novel. They find the cast entertaining, with comic portraits of the scoundrel James Madden and warmth and understanding that season any sadness with irony.

"...This is one aspect of this character driven, emotionally charged novel...." Read more

"...There are no saints in this novel, but the people are sketched with warmth and understanding, seasoning any sadness with irony and humor...." Read more

"...Despite the novel’s pathos, there are wonderful comic portraits: of the scoundrel James Madden, returned from Brooklyn; of the landlady Mrs. Rice..." Read more

"...They were quite the cast, and help provide the entertainment aspect of the book. Very well done!" Read more

18 customers mention "Sadness"6 positive12 negative

Customers have different views on the book's sadness. Some find it a sad story of a tortured soul and an examination of loneliness. Others describe it as depressing, emotionally draining, and heartbreaking.

"I read it quickly because it kept my attention. But, it is terribly sad. I’m not a fan of super sad stories and this qualifies...." Read more

"...A touching, heartbreak of a read." Read more

"...Very cringey. Couldn't put it down." Read more

"...heard of its reputation, and even so it was an even more viscerally devastating read than I had imagined: Brian Moore spares Judith..." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on February 1, 2013
    Set in 1950's Belfast, The Lonely Passion of Miss Judith Hearne was originally published in 1922, and was even made into a movie in 1987.

    Who is Judith Hearne and what's her story? She's a lonely, 40-something never married woman who was raised to set her sites on wealthy men. However, her life circumstances, of having cared for her Aunt Darcy coupled with her rather plain looks finds her now living on a small annuity left to her by her aunt. Judith's also a religious woman, who carries her fair share of guilt. Her only friends are the O'Neil family who are never as anxious to see her as she is to see them - referring to her as the "great bore". In addition, Judith appears to have moved around a bit since her aunt died, and as the novel begins she has just moved into a room in lodging house.

    "After she had arranged the photograph so that her dear aunt could look at her from the exact centre of the mantelpiece, Miss Hearne unwrapped the white tissue paper which covered the coloured oleograph of the Sacred Heart. His place was at the head of the bed, His fingers raised in benediction, His eyes kindly yet accusing. He was old and the painted halo around His head was beginning to slow little cracks. He had looked down on Miss Hearne for a long time, almost half her lifetime."

    The landlady, Mrs. Rice and her creepy, perverted adult son, Bernie, with his "long blond curls" are a couple of odd ducks. The mother washes her grown son's hair and waits on him hand and foot. When Mrs Rice's brother, James Madden returns from the US and decides to stay with his sister at the lodging house a while, Judith has strange imaginings that he may be the man for her. She reads much more into their interactions than is actually there, and soon she realizes things are not working out as she hoped.

    To assuage her guilt and fill her need for human contact she goes to church, and even there she's alone. She finds the church empty except for the priest. After confessing to Father Quigley, he quickly dismisses her, leaving Judith to begin questioning her faith. Even sadder and lonelier than before, she starts drinking once again, and things quickly spiral out of control.

    "A drink would put things right,. Drink was not to help forget, but to help remember, to clarify and arrange untidy and unpleasant facts into a perfect pattern of reasonableness and beauty. Alcoholic, she did not drink to put aside the dangers and disappointments of the moment. She drank to be able to see these trials more philosophically, to examine them more fully, fortified by the stimulant of unreason."

    This was such a well-written book. It was just over 200 pages, however, I found myself reading this one very slowly. Every detail was so easy to visualize, from descriptions of the rooms, the church, clothing, mannerisms, I felt like I was in each room with each character. I couldn't help but feel sorry for Judith; she's one of those characters that will stay in my mind for a long while.

    Read this book. It's not only well done, the cover of the New York Review Books Classic Edition (2010) is just fabulous.
    28 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on April 15, 2022
    The lonely passion of Judith Hearne was a powerful perspective of how two people carry on conversations while mentally arriving at different conclusions-of sincerely planning different directions in their use/misuse of the other. Judith Hearne, the aging spinster in yet another boarding house, sees marital light at the end of the tunnel in the person of James Madden, certainly the novel’s most despicable character. She longs for him; he could use her, and so go the talks and tragic misunderstandings between the two.
    This is one aspect of this character driven, emotionally charged novel. Judith Hearne is not too likable-I never allowed myself to be too drawn to her, not even at her most vulnerable. She can be prickly, overly critical, and self-justifying. But her background makes her present understandable, and the O’Neill’s kindness to her after her economic and societal fall is touching; the story needed to play itself out and their warmth was a good finish.
    Personally, I was reminded of a long-term waitress I worked with. In college she had two major family deaths and through this lost direction and did not finish her degree. She fell into waitressing, and into an unsuccessful longer-term relationship, to find herself these years later alone, short of money, a bleakness about it all. As well, in times of deep isolation I’ve done what Judith Hearne did, practice potential conversations, an admission of sorts that I felt I had little to offer.
    Somewhere I’d come across Joyce Carol Oates quote: “Reading is the sole means by which we slip, involuntarily, often helplessly, into another’s skin, another’s voice, another’s soul.” I entered Hearne’s life and privacy, and was not too comfortable doing so, such is the power of good writing. This was my first Brian Moore novel, and by the end I could see why he structured it so, especially with the minor boarding house characters, bringing it together by the end. The loss of all that Judith had, but what never healingly comforted her, is pronounced. A touching, heartbreak of a read.
    30 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on June 26, 2023
    I read it quickly because it kept my attention. But, it is terribly sad. I’m not a fan of super sad stories and this qualifies. However, it was very well written and somewhat compelling.
    4 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on February 28, 2022
    Miss Hearne is one of thousands of impoverished spinsters in post WWII Belfast. Did she not marry due to a war tragedy? Or is Miss Hearne unmarried and poor because the path she took in life caused her to end up in "bed-sitters" (one bedroom lodgings) with little money scraped together from teaching sporadically and an insufficient annuity.

    The true poverty is the loneliness. Miss Hearne runs a constant inner monologue of self-doubt, self-loathing and criticism. She's unworthy of company and thus has none. And she lives a simultaneous fantasy life as a dark haired beauty, gorgeous in scarlet while appearing not so gorgeous to those who meet her.

    The writing of this novel is classic, reminiscent of many other great authors from Ireland and England and the story, though small, grips you from the moment Judith Hearne moves in and hangs her Sacred Heart print on a stained, wallpapered wall. Very cringey. Couldn't put it down.
    9 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on October 3, 2023
    I chose a four star rating because I enjoyed the thought provoking writing and how the author incorporated Judith's religious beliefs into the story,
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on November 17, 2014
    I love most of Moore's work. I didn't love Judith Hearne. His character development (as usual) was excellent; I just didn't like the main character.
    2 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • Cathy Bluteau
    5.0 out of 5 stars I absolutely loved this book
    Reviewed in Canada on February 16, 2018
    I absolutely loved this book. First time I read Brian Moore and am looking for more of his books. Well written - some say depressing but I found it represented real life and the extents people will go to to not be lonely.
  • Honest Jo
    5.0 out of 5 stars Definitely recommend it
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 10, 2014
    This was recommended by American-UK writer Scott Bradfield. Fabulous read, and helped me with my own novel-writing too. In my copy, there are also insightful "extras" from Brian Moore. When he wrote this, he was quite lonely living in a caravan, but don't expect something miserable... there is plenty of humour.
  • Marie Durand
    4.0 out of 5 stars Plus de solitude que de passion.
    Reviewed in France on June 12, 2013
    Publié en 1955 par le très versatile et indûment sous estimé Brian Moore, ce roman raconte l'histoire de Judith Hearne, une femme célibataire, la quarantaine, qui survit dans des pensions miteuses grâce à quelques leçons de piano. C'est l'histoire d'une déchéance sociale (élevée convaincue d'appartenir à une classe supérieure la protagoniste est incapable de gagner sa vie quand elle se retrouve démunie), affective (ses préjugés, son éducation, sa fierté mal placée l'ont progressivement isolée), psychologique (elle lutte contre l'alcoolisme dans lequel sa solitude a contribué à la plonger, elle doute de sa foi). Sa condition et son passé font que Judith deviendra la proie du premier homme croisé qui se montre quelque peu prévenant. Le rôle de la religion – obligatoire quoique peu ou pas réconfortante- est impitoyablement présenté dans la figure de ses représentants.
    L'ambiance de la vie dans une pension est bien évoquée et elle contribue à l'atmosphère étouffante de Belfast dans les années post guerre. L'auteur sait de quoi il parle, lui qui a quitté l'Irlande très jeune pour s'exiler d'abord au Canada dont il prît la nationalité, ensuite en Californie où il mourut en 1999 à l'âge de 77 ans.
    Judith Hearne est un roman passionnant mais pas recommandé si vous cherchez une lecture estivale légère.
  • sean doherty
    4.0 out of 5 stars Worth a read
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 15, 2013
    An all to familiar story, we all know of a Judith Hearne, all to often an anonymous individual inhibited by religious dogma and meaningless social convention destined to live a life without fulfilment, the Catholic church quite properly doesn't come out unscathed in what is a remarkable insight into the life of a woman many readers will recognise.
  • American Dirt by Jeannine Cummings
    5.0 out of 5 stars The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne by Brian Moore
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 26, 2024
    This book won't cheer you up,as it is a bleak portrayal of Catholic Ireland I think in mid 1900s.
    As my mother was a bleak Irish Catholic,I found alot of insight in reading this book and its portrayal of Ireland and Brian Moore's astute depiction of Ireland at that time.

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