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The Well of the Saints

by J. M. Synge

Downloads: Under 100
First published: 1905
Pages: 59

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About this book

Martin and Mary Doul are a pair of blind beggars in a lonely Irish glen who have spent years believing, on the word of teasing neighbors, that they are a handsome couple. When a wandering saint restores their sight with water from a holy well, the illusion shatters, and they see plainly how old and worn they and everyone around them really are. Synge shapes this three-act comedy into a strange meditation on whether truth is worth more than a kind lie, and the beggars' final choice is not what a pious audience might expect. Written in his rich Anglo-Irish idiom, it stands among his most unsettling works. Free PDF and EPUB editions are available to download.

About the author

J. M. Synge

John Millington Synge (1871-1909) was an Irish playwright and poet at the heart of the Irish Literary Revival and the Abbey Theatre. He built his plays from the speech and lives of country people in the west of Ireland, producing a small body of work that reshaped modern drama.