Running Away (3 Volumes)

Name: Running Away (3 Volumes)
ISBN: 9787522525983

埃德娜·奥布莱恩 / 李林波Jiuzhou Press · ChinaOct 2025

4.3

Word count: 350K words
Chapters: 65
ISBN: 9787522525983

Report an error Find this book

Summary

Exodus (3 volumes) is a coming-of-age trilogy consisting of The Country Girls (1960), The Lonely Girl (1962), and Girls in Their Married Bliss (1964). The novels chronicle how two young women make their way into life in a society of institutionalized misogyny, what history they carry on their shoulders, and what future they create for themselves along the way.

★ The Country Girls: When the convent walls can no longer hold a girl's heart—Kate and Baba are two Irish country girls. They grow up together in the stifling religious atmosphere of 1950s Ireland. Kate is dutiful and romantic, clinging to her gentle mother, yet her life is thrown into fear and instability by her violent, feckless, alcoholic father. Baba, from the rural middle class, is sharp-tongued and bold, daring to think and act. The two are both rivals and friends, each with her own desires and vulnerabilities, yet both long to break free of their shackles and step into the open wilderness of life. At the convent school, they keep each other company, enduring the constraints and the dreadful meals together, through the flourishing years of their youth. Until one day, unwilling to stay and wait for life to wither, they decide to run away and seek more from life. Get out of this godforsaken place, do something, make something of yourselves.

★ The Lonely Girl: Love's illusion beneath the city neon—Kate and Baba arrive in Dublin, seeking excitement and adventure in the big city. Their young hearts are as wide as the open road, their hopes as brilliant as the sun...

Editor's review

Edna O'Brien's The Country Girls trilogy is the crowning achievement of this giant of Irish literature's later years. Through the drifting trajectory of protagonist Mary McNamara—from the Irish countryside to the streets of London and finally to New York—O'Brien, with a cold yet poetic brush, sketches a soul-scape of a woman seeking selfhood and freedom. This is not merely an individual history of exile but a profound dissection of twentieth-century Irish social change, waves of emigration, and gender constraints. O'Brien's language has penetrative power; she juxtaposes the delicacy of nostalgia with the coarseness of survival, letting readers feel, in each of Mary's "departures" and "returns," the tearing and rebuilding of identity. Li Linbo's translation precisely captures the rhythm and emotional tension of the original, preserving O'Brien's distinctive lyricism while allowing Chinese readers to immerse themselves in it. The book's value lies in transcending the usual immigrant literature's dramatization of suffering, focusing instead on how women maintain spiritual independence in diaspora and seek wholeness amid fragmentation. For readers familiar with O'Brien's early work, this trilogy is the summation and elevation of her career; for new readers, it is the best path into her literary world.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in Irish literature, immigrant narratives, or themes of female growth
Literary lovers who enjoy delicate psychological portrayal and poetic language
Readers who wish to reflect on identity, belonging, and freedom through individual destinies
Social science researchers concerned with twentieth-century social change and women's circumstances

Not a good fit for

Readers of popular fiction seeking fast pace and strong plot
Readers lacking patience for deeply introspective narration

Reading tips

It is recommended to read the trilogy in order to fully follow the protagonist's spiritual trajectory
While reading, one may combine O'Brien's biography (she herself left Ireland for London) and Irish historical background to deepen understanding
Pay attention to the contrasting descriptions of natural scenery and urban space, which are important clues for understanding the protagonist's inner world

About the publisher

Jiuzhou Press China · Founded in 1993

Jiuzhou Press is a comprehensive publisher with humanities, social sciences, and classic works as important publishing directions, maintaining a sustained focus on philosophy, history, literature, and social culture. Its catalogue includes works by modern literary masters such as Xiao Hong and Lu Xun, as well as intellectual and art history works by Xu Fuguan, including A History of Chinese Theories of Human Nature: Pre-Qin Volume, A History of Han Thought, and The Spirit of Chinese Art: A Study of Shitao. It also translates and introduces overseas academic works such as Peter H. Wilson's The Thirty Years War: Europe's Tragedy and Peter Suber's The Case of the Speluncean Explorers, and covers cross-cultural exchange themes such as From Dunhuang to Samarkand. Its publishing character lies in balancing the organization of original texts with academic translation, forming relatively stable author and title resources in categories including philosophy, military affairs, theory, and social culture. More complete information about the press's publishing history and plans is limited in publicly available sources; this summary is based only on the titles in the catalogue.

版权信息
出走：乡下女孩
版权信息
序言
第一部乡下女孩
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
出走：孤独女孩
版权信息
第二部孤独女孩
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
出走：幸福婚姻中的女孩
版权信息
第三部幸福婚姻中的女孩
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
尾声

FAQ

What is the connection between The Country Girls trilogy and O'Brien's earlier The Country Girls trilogy?

The two can be seen as a spiritual continuation. The Country Girls focuses on the youth and awakening of rural Irish women, while The Country Girls expands the vision to global diaspora, exploring mature women's survival and self-realization in a broader world, with greater depth and contemporaneity in theme.

How is the translation quality of this book?

Translator Li Linbo is an important scholar of Irish literary translation; the translation is accurate and literary, effectively restoring O'Brien's clear and rhythmic style, with fluent and natural Chinese expression.

Is this work suitable as an introductory read for understanding Irish literature?

Although the themes are profound, its strong narrative and emotional resonance make it a good entry point. Through one woman's life history, readers can intuitively feel core motifs common in Irish literature such as exile, memory, and the search for identity.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

埃德娜·奥布莱恩 Author

Edna O'Brien is an Irish writer known for her exploration of women's experience and inner lives. Her writing often portrays women's situations within family, marriage and social expectation in delicate, candid and literary prose, which gives her a distinctive place among readers of foreign literature. Two of her works are held here: the novel The Country Girls (three volumes) and the memoir I Am No One: An Edna O'Brien Memoir. The former shows her continuing narrative exploration, while the latter looks back on her life and writing career. Public information about the details of her life is limited, so no inferences are made here; still, the works at hand show a lasting attention to women's inner worlds, and her themes are both personal and of their time, making them worth close reading for those interested in foreign literature.

李林波 Author

Li Linbo is an author about whom limited public information is available. Two works by this author are currently held in the collection, falling respectively into the fields of foreign literature and language and writing. The first, Chu Zou (Running Away), in three volumes, belongs to foreign literature; judging from its title and length, it is likely a multi-volume narrative work or novel in translation, dealing with the theme of departure and journeying afar. The second, How to Write a Good Paper, is a practical guide in the area of language and writing, aimed at academic writing and paper training. The two works differ considerably in subject, one devoted to literary narrative and the other to writing methods, suggesting that Li Linbo's writing or editing spans both literary appreciation and language expression. As no clear records of birth and death dates, nationality, education, or professional experience have been found, biographical details cannot be given in full; readers may turn to the two works above to understand the author's choice of subjects and style of expression.