O’BRIEN, Edna ~ The Country Girls. Signed by the author.

FIRST UK PRINTING. Hutchinson, London: 1960.

8vo., black publisher's boards, lettered in gilt to spine with painted blue label and publisher's device to foot; together in the pictorial dustwrapper featuring an image by Jillian Willett; THE BOOK near-fine, slightly bruised at spine tips, with a couple of spots to the endpapers; THE WRAPPER very good, some overall toning and spotting to the edges of the flaps; lightly rubbed along spine and folds, with a tiny bit of associated wear at tips; one very short closed tear to rear panel discretely repaired internally with archival tape. The wrapper is protected in a removable Brodart archival cover. First UK edition, first printing. An Edna O'Brien theatre ticket, presumably from the signing, is loosely inserted. Edna O'Brien (1930-2024) was born to a strictly religious family in County Clare, Ireland, and wrote her first novel at the age of nine. Educated at a catholic boarding school, she later referred to her childhood upbringing as 'suffocating': "I rebelled against the coercive and stifling religion into which I was born and bred", she wrote, "It was very frightening and all-pervasive. I'm glad it has gone." After studying at night school, she qualified as a chemist, married Ernest Gebler, and wrote 'The Country Girls' during "twelve weeks of London fog". 'The Country Girls' is a semi-autobiographical work, and follows Caithleen (the 'quiet, brooding one') and Baba (her 'happy-go-lucky' friend) through their childhood in Ireland, their education in a convent, and thier escape to Dublin in search of life and love. Written while she was working as a reader for Hutchinson, she recieved a £50 commission for the novel, and finished the entire work in just three weeks. Upon publication the book was instantly credited with the breaking of silence and boundaries on sexual and social issues surrounding women in the aftermath of the Second World War, which were particularly prevelant in Ireland at the time. Consequently, however, and perhaps inevitably, the book was instantly banned in Ireland for 'corrupting the minds of young women' and it was reportedly publicly burned. Defiant, the author went on to publish two further novels which made the book part of a trilogy; 'The Lonely Girl' (published in 1962) and 'Girls in Their Married Bliss' (1964). "I felt no fame", she replied, "I was married. I had young children. All I could hear out of Ireland from my mother and anonymous letters was bile and odium and outrage". In 2012 O'Brien published her memoir, 'Country Girl', which referred directly to the controversy, and the relationship with her mother, which was severely damaged by the book's publication. Here, book comes complete with the instantly recognisable dust jacket design provided by Jillian Willett. "Life, after all, was a secret with the self. The more one gave out, the less there remained for the center--that center which she coveted for herself and recognized instantly in others. Fruits had it, the very heart of, say, a cherry, where the true worth and flavor lay. Some of course were flawed or hollow in there. Many, in fact." The author's debut novel. Scarce signed.

BINDING: Hardcover
CONDITION: Near Fine
JACKET: Very Good