The work of National Book Award-winning Irish novelist Colum McCann reveals the intersection of history with the lives of ordinary people. Flannery (English literature, Oxford Brookes U.) analyzes seven novels by McCann, written between 1994 and 2009. An introduction reviews McCann's background and critical reception of his work, and offers a detailed review of other scholarship on McCann. The present study looks especially at utopian impulses in McCann's work; other themes examined are arrival and departure, rites of passage, hope and youth, and embracing the 'other.' The book is distributed in the US by ISBS. Annotation 2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
