Peter Behrens reads from his critically acclaimed new novel, "The Law of Dreams"

Thursday, September 27th at 7pm
at Glucksman Ireland House NYU

Peter Behrens reads from The Law of Dreams (Steelforth Press, 2006), the story of a young man's Homeric passage from innocence to experience during the Irish Famine. Winner of the 2006 Governor General's Literary Award for Fiction (Canada), the novel has been described by the New York Times Book Review as "absorbing, unsparing and beautifully written." Driven from the only home he has known during Ireland’s Great Hunger of 1847, Fergus O’Brien makes the harrowing journey from County Clare to America, traveling with bold girls, pearl boys, navvies, and highwaymen. Along the way, Fergus meets his three passionate loves–Phoebe, Luke, and Molly–vivid, unforgettable characters, fresh and willful. Based on Peter Behrens’s own family history, The Law of Dreams is lyrical, emotional, and thoroughly extraordinary–a searing tale of ardent struggle and ultimate perseverance.   "The characters are so real they seem ready to walk off the page. The Law of Dreams sweeps the reader along with the urgency, immediacy and poetry of its narrative force. This is historical fiction at its very finest." —    Peter Quinn   ". . . It is one of those rare books that comes along from time to time that makes you feel that you are in the presence of greatness: a gifted storyteller with a truly compelling story to tell . . . " — The Irish Independent (Dublin) Sunday, Aug. 11 2007   How did we miss these? from The Observer (London) Sunday Sept 2 2007 http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,2160521,00.html Far from the fame and glamour of the Booker and bestsellers is a forgotten world of literary treasures - brilliant but underrated novels that deserve a second chance to shine. We asked 50 celebrated writers to nominate their favourites. There's no accounting for taste. Almost every reader has a novelist or poet whose work they believe to be shamefully undervalued. When, in an exercise conducted from time to time in the literary press, The Observer decided to approach 50 contemporary novelists to ask for their nominations in this department we could, by definition, have no idea what the outcome would be. Still, the results of this poll have been fascinating and instructive. We hope our readers will be inspired to go off -piste in pursuit of the rare and the beautiful... Nicci Gerrard The Law of Dreams (2006) Peter Behrens Though this hauntingly bloody and beautiful novel has been garlanded with praise and prizes in Behrens's native Canada, here its reception has been weirdly muted. Set in the potato famine in Ireland in 1847, the transport ship to Canada and finally Montreal, it tells the story of the young man Fergus's journey through horror, violence, and degrading poverty - but in spite of its picaresque telling of unimaginable catastrophe and scorching disaster, the novel is neither melodramatic nor depressing. Rather, there's a euphoric uplift in its pages, a poetic energy in the style which completely bowled me over. Such a messy, delirious, risky, big-hearted book; such a treat.

Free admission for Members of Glucksman Ireland House and for all students/faculty with a valid NYU I.D. card.
For all others: $10 donation at the door.

In order to ensure a seat, please RSVP to 212-998-3950 (option 3) or email ireland.house@nyu.edu.

Directions to Glucksman Ireland House NYU.