Brady, Joan

(US/British, 1939– )

Theory of War (1993) established Joan Brady's corrosive and eloquent style. This fictionalized account of the true story of Brady's grandfather, sold into white slavery at the age of 4, won the Whitbread Book of the Year award. Brady's analysis of emotional violation and the repercussions felt by subsequent generations is fiercely convincing. In Death Comes for Peter Pan (1995), Brady's acid scrutiny is turned on the US Medicare system. Her most recent novel, The Émigré (1999), continues her major obsessions of power, art, and love, but the moral framework opens out and the tone is lighter as the reader is asked to decide whether con man Nikolas Strakhan, who steals money, sex, and talent, is supremely evil or supremely attractive.

Fred D'Aguiar, A. L. Kennedy  RV