O'Neill, Louise
Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author.
(1985- ) Irish journalist and author whose first novel, the Near Future Young Adult Dystopia Only Ever Yours (2014), posits a world where women are raised as breeders, selected for their physical beauty and decorousness when addressed by males, as concubines, or "chastities" (which is to say teachers of young females) (see Feminism; Women in SF). The intense interactions of teenage girls awaiting their fate are at points reminiscent of those depicted in Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go (2005). The Surface Breaks (2018) is a Twice-Told tale reworking Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid" (in Fairy Tales Told for Children: First Collection: Third Booklet [coll 1837]) [for Andersen and Twice-Told see The Encyclopedia of Fantasy under links below]; the mermaid (see Supernatural Creatures) is here named Gaia, though Gaia may be referenced very broadly. Gaia leaves her home Under the Sea and falls in love with a boy. The old story is unpacked from this point with some severity. [JC]
Louise O'Neill
born Clonakitty, West Cork, Ireland: 1985
works (selected)
- Only Ever Yours (London: Quercus, 2014) [pb/]
- The Surface Breaks (London: Scholastic UK, 2018) [hb/]
links
- Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- The Encyclopedia of Fantasy: Hans Christian andersen; Twice-Told.
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