The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearnewas the book that made Brian Moorers"s literary reputation and established him as an unflinching chronicler of the human soul. Moorers"s deep sympathy and immense skill make this story of an ordinary woman confronting the limitations of her life an unforgettable one. Judith Hearne is an unmarried woman of a certain age who has come down in the world. She scrapes by with an annuity left to her by the aunt she spent her youth nursing and the earnings from a few piano lessons. Shers"s full of the prejudices and piousness of her genteel Belfast upbringing, so it is with some reluctance that she accepts the attentions of her landladyrs"s brother, a former doorman, lately returned from America. But Judith has a secret life, one nobody suspects until circumstances force her to loosen her grasp on respectability in a spectacular act of self-destruction.

Brian Moore (1921–1999) was born in Belfast. He emigrated first to Canada and later to California. He won the Authors’ Club First Novel Award for The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne, and was short-listed for the Booker Prize three times. Five of his novels have been made into films, including the BAFTA awardwinning The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne, starring Maggie Smith and Bob Hoskins.

Mary Gordon is the author of the novels Spending, The Company of Women, The Rest of Life, Final Payments,The Other Side, and Pearl; the short story collections Temporary Shelter and The Stories of Mary Gordon; and the memoir The Shadow Man. She has received a Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the 1997 O. Henry Award for best story. She teaches at Barnard College and lives in New York City.