by J. G. Farrell

Troubles is the first part of the “Empire Trilogy,” a series of novels by J. G. Farrell published in the 1970s depicting moments of crisis and decline in the history of the British Empire. Prior to Troubles, Farrell was a relatively unknown novelist who had achieved only moderate success. He was born on January 25, 1935, in Liverpool to an English father and Irish mother, and spent his childhood years in both England and Ireland. His Anglo-Irish heritage would prove to be an important influence in his writing. An athletic and confident youth who excelled at sports, in October 1956, Farrell went up to Brasenose College, Oxford University, to study law. But within weeks of his arrival he was seriously ill, struck down with the crippling disease of polio. He spent many weeks paralyzed in an iron lung, and although he would recover, the polio left his...