A brilliant and moving novel about celebrity, sexual power, and a daughterās search to understand her
motherās hidden truths.
Katherine OāDell is an Irish theater legend. As her daughter, Norah, retraces her motherās celebrated career and
bohemian life, she delves into long-kept secrets, both her motherās and her own. Katherine began her career on
Irelandās bus-and-truck circuit before making it to Londonās West End, Broadway, and finally Hollywood. Every
moment of her life is a performance, with young Norah standing in the wings. But the mother-daughter romance
cannot survive Katherineās past or the worldās damage. With age, alcohol, and dimming stardom, Katherineās grip on
reality grows fitful. Fueled by a proud and long-simmering rage, she commits a bizarre crime.
As Norahās role gradually changes to Katherineās protector, caregiver, and finally legacy-keeper, she revisits her
motherās life of fiercely kept secrets; and Norah reveals in turn the secrets of her own sexual and emotional comingof-age story. Her narrative is shaped by three braided searchesāfor her fatherās identity; for her motherās motive in
donning a Chanel suit one morning and shooting a TV producer in the foot; and her own search for a husband, family,
and work she loves.
Bringing to life two generations of women with difficult sexual histories, both assaulted and silenced, both findingā
or failing to findātheir powers of recovery, Actress touches a raw and timely nerve. With virtuosic storytelling and in
prose at turns lyrical and knife-sharp, Anne Enright takes readers to the heart of the maddening yet tender love that
binds a mother and daughter.