Irish Books Reviewed
Gregory Carr
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The Visitor by Maeve Brennan
(Hardback; 9.99 IEP / 11.50 USD / 8.50 UK / 12.70 EURO; New Island, 86
pages)
The revival of the work of Maeve Brennan, who died in obscurity in 1993, has
won her the reputation as a classic 20th century Irish writer. Now the
significance of Brennan's work has been further heightened by the chance
discovery of this novella, written in the mid-1940s but until now unknown
and unpublished. Recently found in a university archive, it is, quite
simply, a masterpiece. It is the tale of Anastasia King, a young Dublin
woman haunted by the break-up of her parents' disastrous marriage, and her
decision to follow her mother to Paris. Now, home in Dublin for the first
time in six years, with her mother dead, Anastasia slowly comes to see the
price she will have to pay: exile in the place she once called home. This
novel is an understated work of genius, meticulous, haunting and
unforgettable.
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A Carra King by John Brady
(Trade Paperback; 15.00 Euro /13.50 USD / 10.00 UK; Orion, 365 pages)
When an American tourist is found dead and stuffed into the boot of his car,
Inspector Matt Minogue finds himself in charge of the ensuing furore. Not
only was the victim a tourist, but also the son of US multimillionaire
Johnny Leyne, a patron of many Irish-American causes. In the absence of his
Chief Inspector, Minogue must clear this one up quickly - just to avoid the
fall-out. But a simple random murder is quickly ruled out with the
discovery that one of the victim's last known contacts - a curator at the
National Museum in Dublin - is also missing. Soon, Matt finds a link
between these crimes - a mysterious archaeological site called Carra Fields
that threatens to rewrite Irish history.
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Hope by Mary Ryan
(Hardback; 20.00 IEP / 24.50 USD / 17.50 UK / 25.40 EURO; Headline, 470
Pages)
In 1869 Tom Walsh and his sister Maria abandon their beloved Ireland and
immigrate to America. They leave behind an Ireland ravaged by famine and
exploitation, her people demoralized by the cruel legacy of the Penal Laws,
and decimated by starvation and emigration. America is the land of
opportunity, where railroads are moving the frontiers ever westwards.
Together, Tom and Maria begin a journey that will take them across the
prairies of the New World towards Colorado and, eventually, to a great gold
mine that will make Tom rich beyond his wildest dreams.
Thirty years later, Tom is one of the world's wealthiest men, a friend of
presidents and royalty, a US commissioner to the 1900 World Trade Fair, and
a lavish host in one of Washington's foremost mansions - but he still
returns on a visit to Ireland in hommage to his past.
Fortune, however, has her price. Tom's daughter, Evalyn, daughter of the
heir to the Washington Post, buys the world's most famous gemstone, the Hope
Diamond .
In this book best-selling author Mary Ryan takes the reader through the
misery of famine-stricken Ireland, the anguish of the emigrant ship, the
uphill road to fortune, and the lives of the super-rich in the early 1900s
in this passionate and powerful epic saga, based on the true-life story of
Thomas F. Walsh, her great-grand uncle who made his fortune in the goldmines
of Colorado.
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What She Wants by Cathy Kelly
(Paperback; 10.00 IEP / 12.00 USD / 8.50 UK / 12.70 EURO; HarperCollins, 656
Pages)
This new contemporary romance novel by the best-selling Irish author follows
the fate of four Irish women: Hope, Sam, Virginia and Nicole. They all
thought that they had their lives mapped out. Hope thought she would still
be slogging it out as a working mum, snatching quality time with her husband
Matt and her two small children. Her sister Sam was going to be the
acclaimed boss of a record label, turning heads as the toughest, most
brilliant music mogul in Ireland. Virginia would be planning their dream
retirement home with her beloved husband Bill and doting on their little
granddaughter. And wild child Nicole reckoned she'd still be out singing
karaoke, partying like mad and trying not to get fired from her boring job
for making too many personal phone calls. But destiny has other plans for
them .
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Playing with Fire by Mary Larkin
(Hardback; 16.99 IEP / 20.00 USD / 14.99 UK / 21.60 EURO; Little Brown, 470
Pages)
In Jim Brady, Susan Cummings has found a man who is perfect marriage
material: tall, good-looking, decent and caring. But love never runs
smooth, and in Belfast in the late 1950s it is as rough as it is possible to
be. For Jim is a Catholic, and Susan knows that her Protestant parents will
never accept such a union. However much their feelings blossom, Susan and
Jim know theirs is a relationship that is doomed from the start. Even so,
when Jim decides that breaking up is the only way forward, Susan in
heartbroken. And when you heart is broken, anything can happen. And it
does in the form of Graham Robson, her sister's boyfriend. For a brief
moment despair is replaced by desire. It is a single night that changes her
life: when Susan discovers she is pregnant, she flees her family's reaction
for England. When she returns to Belfast on hearing terrible news from
home, she doesn't know just how her future will be played out. But she
knows one thing: she is playing with fire!
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Friends Indeed by Rose Doyle
(Paperback; 12.50 IEP / 14.50 USD / 10.50 UK / 16.05 EURO; Hodder, 472
Pages)
This historical romantic novel is set in 19th century Dublin, a city riven
by the green of an emerging middle class and the unspeakable poverty of the
poor. Alicia Buckley and Sarah Rooney, growing up there, embody that
divide. But despite their different backgrounds, the girls enjoy an
extraordinary friendship, so when Sarah falls pregnant, and is thrown out by
her father, Allie doesn't think twice about joining her friend in exile.
Neither woman is prepared for the deprivations she will face.
Pursuing Sarah's soldier lover, they make their way, with baby James, to
Kildare. There they become part of a community of outcast women, known as
the Wrens of the Curragh, who live rough, savage lives on the outskirts of
the army camp. Their numbers include prostitutes, ex-convicts and
alcoholics; the life is crude and poverty-stricken, often drunken and wild,
the women reviled in the local town and forbidden the camp except on market
days. But there is also sharing and trust, and, through her work as the
community's doctor, a liberation for Allie from the stifling expectations of
her family.
The respite is short-lived. Tragedy and death force Allie and Sarah to turn
their backs on Ireland to make new lives in America. But a final twist of
fate means that only one woman will reach that brave new world.
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The Visitors' Book by Mary Rose Callaghan
(Paperback; 8.99 IEP / 10.50 USD / 7.50 UK / 11.50 EURO; Brandon, 285 pages)
Peggy, who's Irish, and Charlie, American, have moved from New York to
Dublin, in search of a more peaceful life. Charlie is having a mid-life
crisis and has romantic illusions about living in the west; Peggy is more
practical and fears returning to the grey streets of her youth. They buy a
small house in Dublin 6, and get busy renovating it. But Peggy is certain
that Charlie is having an affair with a sexy young poet, and in desperation
she turns to her diary, narrating the story of the characters on her own
street and their first year in the house.
Their troubles really begin when friends and relations from America start to
visit. Charlie's quarrelsome step-parents want to see the Aran Islands; his
romantic Southern cousin wants to marry an Irish redhead; his brilliant
Texan grandson is besotted with Shelley, while his hyper-active ex-wife want
to rope them into making a film. And these are only a few of the visitors,
all of whom are in search of happiness, which Ireland must miraculously
supply. Reality, of course, turns out to be different from the dream, not
just for the visitors, but also for Peggy and Charlie.
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The Thing He Loves by Elizabeth Wassell
(Paperback; 8.99 IEP / 10.50 USD / 7.50 UK / 11.50 EURO; Brandon, 285 pages)
Torments by a cruel family background, an aspiring artist leaves New York to
start a new life in the extreme south of Ireland where, amidst the ruggedly
beautiful scenery of West Cork, an international community of artists and
writers flourishes. As Gabriel settles in, it seems that he seeks approval,
yet soon he is seen as someone to be avoided, by all but Lottie, the local
girl with whom he embarks on a torrid affair. At the same time Tony, also
an artist, fall in love with Fleur Penhalligan, a renowned painter
considerably older than him. Both couples explore the dark side of passion,
one couple growing through the journey, the other engulfed by the darkness
they have invoked. This haunting novel explores extremes and
contradictions. The writing is richly evocative of the sounds, textures and
aromas of West Cork's countryside, its pubs and shops, its literary and
artistic milieu.
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The Congress of Rough Riders by John Boyne
(Hardback; 15.00 IEP / 18.00 USD / 12.50 UK / 19.10 EURO; Weidenfeld, 328
pages)
Dublin-born novelist John Boyne has chosen the life of Buffalo Bill as the
subject for his second novel. William Cody grows up surrounded by his
father's tales of Buffalo Bill, to whom he is distantly related, and his
fantasies of the Wild West. Though he escapes his heritage by fleeing
abroad and starting a new life for himself, he finds that he is always drawn
back to his ancestry. When his father proposes that together they should
recreate Buffalo Bill's stage show, 'The Congress of Rough Riders of the
World', for a contemporary audience, William refuses to have any part in it.
When tragedy strikes, however, it is to his father that he eventually
returns. This engrossing novel spans centuries and continents, and is
played out against the background of the American Wild West.
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At Ruby's by Frank Delaney
(Trade Paperback; 13.50 IEP / 16.50 USD / 10.99 UK / 17.15 EURO;
HarperCollins, 311 pages)
This is a compelling psychological thriller. Like all Delaney's novels, it
rests on several layers: a thriller with profound themes; a contemporary,
sometimes playful, novel with homage to the mood of the 1930s
spy-and-cabaret writers; a love story full of desperate, touching passion.
Architect Nicholas Newman has married Claire, younger than him, frail and
beautiful but with a dangerous history. Passionately, watchfully in love
with her, he struggles to tell her of his feelings. Claire feels
destabilized by her jealousy of the women he has known - notably Ruby
Harmer, the Belgravia nightclub owner, a lover from Newman's former, wilder
life. Ruby now exhibits a claim to Newman that he regrets and she draws him
into something deeper and worse than he has yet known. Meanwhile, a
boardroom argument provokes an unsolved murder, and Newman finds his client,
the enigmatic and vicious Richard Strafe, involved in evil that comes
straight from today's headlines. Absorbing, passionate and riven with
tension, this novels punch with force as Newman is forced by shock after
shock into a vortex of choices that determine his bravery - or his
cowardice.
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New in Paperback:
Shamrock Tea by Ciaran Carson
(11.50 Euro; 9.50 USD / 7.50 UK; 308 pages; Granta)
This book is Carson's most ambitious book to date. Like 'Fishing for
Amber', it delights in stories and their meandering connections with an
infinity of other stories. 'The Arnolfini Portrait' is at the center of the
book, the great van Eyck painting of a merchant and his wife in the city of
Bruges. Around the painting swirls a galaxy of esoteric and entertaining
knowledge of saints' days, herbal cures, animal symbolism, miracles and
transformations.
Shamrock Tea, the magical substance that allows people to experience the
world with visionary clarity, can only be found by passing through the van
Eyck painting into another world. The characters who bear this knowledge
include a young boy called Carson, his uncle Celestine, his cousin Berenice,
Ludwig Wittgenstein, Father Brown, and young Maeterlinck, the nephew of
Maurice Maeterlinck, an art-dealer in the Flemish city of Ghent. Everything
connects with everything else: one of the book's presiding geniuses is
Arthur Conan Doyle, who believed that you could read the world in a drop of
water.
Shamrock Tea is an homage to this idea, to an almost medieval sense of the
unity of the world - what in other words we call magic. Our Fiction Book of
the Month for March 2001. (I have one first edition hardback copy left
will happily sell at the paperback price to the first customer who wants
it!)
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Slan agus beannacht!
Gregory Carr