SIXTY YEARS AGO today Edna O’Brien’s groundbreaking novel The Country Girls was banned in Ireland.
O’Brien was paid a £50 advance for the novel, which she wrote in three weeks. When it was released it unleashed a storm of controversy that included book burnings, rosary recitations and a flurry of letters between high-ranking political and church figures.
This feverish activity quickly resulted in the book being banned. The censorship even stretched all the way to O’Brien’s own family, as the author wrote that her mother erased any offending words with black ink, and stashed the book in a bolster case in an outhouse.
Despite this frosty reception at home, the book received acclaim internationally. Its popularity has endured and last year the BBC included it in its list of ’100 Novels That Shaped Our World’.
So today we’re asking how much do you know about books that have been banned?
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say