This month we read various novels by Irish authors. It was a very interesting meeting with a wide variety of authors and subjects.
ED: THE LOCKUP by JOHN BANVILLE
The story was set in Dublin in 1957. Rosa Jacob’s body is found in her car in a lock up (garage). It is first thought to be suicide, but the pathologist discovers it was murder. The detective inspector, John Strafford and the pathologist are the main characters in this novel and John Banville’s previous novels. There is a lot of animosity between them. Rosa had links to a wealthy German industrialist and his son. She had suspected he was supplying materials to Israel to make an atomic bomb. Rosa’s friend was a journalist in Israel and together they were delving into the matter to find out when her friend was killed in a hit and run accident. Rosa’s sister, a newspaper reporter from London, returns to Dublin to investigate. Ed said it was enjoyable and easy to read.
PRUE: DAYS WITHOUT END by SEBASTIAN BARRY (Published 1955)
This is a story of an Irish boy who left Ireland in the 1850’s for America. He is barely 17 and had no way or surviving when he met another young man. They got a paid job dressed up as girls as they were young and quite good looking. They did this for a few years and then decided to join the American Army to fight the Indians and then later they fought in the Civil War. The story showed the effects of cruelty on soldiers and Indians. Prue said it was a beautiful book about comradeship, friendship, love and companionship. It's simple, precise and poignant. The narrative flows and it was easy to read with not a wasted word.
DIANN FORD: PROMISING YOUNG WOMEN BY CAROLYN O’DONOHUE (2018)
Diann said this was not her type of book. The main character, Jane Peters, is a 20 something by day and a world-weary aunt by night, taking care of her nephew. When an office party goes too far, Jane goes into a world being the other woman after an affair with a married man. Diann lost interest in the story line of this book after reading the first 36 pages. She felt her time would be better spent with a different Irish author’s work with a different theme. It was a learning experience for Diann.
JOAN: KITTY O’SHEA: THE STORY OF KATHERINE PARNELL by MARY ROSE CALLAGHAN (Published 1989)
This is a biography. It is the historical love/sex scandal story set in Ireland and England during and part of the Irish fight for independence in the 19th and early 20th century. It is also a love story between a man and woman. Kitty had married the wrong man, Willy O’Shea. He was lazy and a womaniser. She was a Victorian woman who did not leave her husband. When Kitty and Charles Parnell met, they began a long affair. He was the leader of the Irish Nationalist Party, also known as the uncrowned King of Ireland. Joan said it was a very good book.
LYN: THE OTHER SIDE OF THE RAINBOW by MAIRE BRENNAN with ANGELA LITTLE (Published 2000)
This is the autobiography of the voice of Clannad. Maire Brennan was born in 1952 in the village of Gweedore, county Donegal, Ireland. She is the eldest of nine children, born into a very musical family. She is a folk singer, song writer, trained harpist, and philanthropist, and the sister of Enya, a very talented and well known singer. After singing in her father’s tavern, she began performing professionally in 1970, aged 18, when members of the family formed the band called Clannad. They became very well known and toured throughout the world.
She married young, but the marriage only lasted 18mths or so. The music scene was becoming very much involved in the drug culture and Maire made many unfortunate life choices, indulging in heavy drug and alcohol use. Lyn enjoyed this book. It was full of trials and tribulations and overcoming religious differences in her second marriage.
VAL: SO LATE IN THE DAY by CLAIRE KEEGAN
This is a little book about a middle-aged man who goes back to his flat after work each day to his cat. He reminisces about a French girl he had a relationship with some time ago. He had bought a wedding ring for her, but she changed her mind about marrying him. She gave him the reasons why and he was now ruminating on how it might have been different if he had behaved differently. Val said it was beautifully written.
PAMELA: PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN by JAMES JOYCE (1916)
Pamela had read this when she was 15. This is Joyce’s first novel. It is written in the modernist style. The main character is Stephen Dedalus, Joyce’s fictional alter ego, whose surname alludes to Daedalus, Greek mythology’s consummate craftsman. Pamela said the first two chapters were okay. By the third chapter he was being taught by the Jesuits about the seven deadly sins. She couldn’t read much further and thought it was self-indulgent. She disliked the content, not the writing. This book was published in 1916 and in 1918 he was writing his masterpiece “Ulysses”.
JUDY D: THE NOTHING MAN by CATHERINE RYAN HOWARD
This book is a psychological thriller. It is a story in two parts. One part is about the characters and the murders. The other part is spoken by the Nothing Man. A young lady called Eve is obsessed with catching the killer. The Nothing Man came to her house when she was a 12year old child. She was the only survivor of a brutal attack on her family by this serial killer. Eve writes a true crime story about her efforts to track down the Nothing Man who murdered her family. When he reads the book, he has no choice but to stop her first. Judy said it was excellent. There are no gruesome details.
JUDY J: A WEEK IN WINTER by MAEVE BINCHY
Stoneybridge is a small town on the west coast of Ireland where all the families know each other. In 1990 Chicky Starr had left Ireland in disgrace and estranged from her family, to travel to New York with a cool and suave American tourist she had met, who promised her the world. When he abandons her, she is left to survive on her own. After becoming successful, she returns to Ireland and takes on an old, decaying mansion set high on the cliffs overlooking the windswept Atlantic Ocean and turns it into a restful place for a holiday by the sea. A group of accidently gathered strangers arrive for the opening week of the hotel. Judy said she enjoyed the book when it first began, what life was like in Ireland in the 1990’s and Chicky’s struggle to succeed in New York, but when this unlikely, but magically connected group of people began to arrive, for the opening week, it became a little shallow. The ending is disappointing as it finishes with the last character’s story. It almost seemed to be rushed and incomplete. It was an easy, enjoyable read, as all her books have been.
BEV: THE LIAR’S GIRL by CATHERINE RYAN HOWARD
Bev is not a fan of books that go back and forth in time. Alison, an Irish girl met an Irish fellow who went to the same university as her. She falls in love but when he is sent to a psychiatric hospital for murdering 5 young women, she moves to the Netherlands to start a new life. 10 yeas later, a girl’s body is found, and it seems like a copycat killing. When the police try to talk to the serial killer in the psychiatric hospital, he says he will only talk to his ex-girlfriend. Bev couldn’t read anymore.
PAT: SMILE by RODDY DOYLE
Pat only got half way through. The story is told through Victor Forde who goes to Donnelly’s pub every evening to enjoy a pint. One day he is interrupted by a man called Frederick who knew him from school. It brings up bad memories of his time at the Christian Brothers and one Brother in particular. This is a novel; unlike any he has written before. Pat said it was well written but a bit boring. It didn’t hold her interest.
ROSEMARY: A CLASS APART (published 2018)
This is the first in the historical fiction series called A Matter of Class. It is self-published. The story is set in 1828 and Ireland is in turmoil as Irish tenants protest against their upper-class English landlords. This is a gripping historical romance set in the Irish countryside. As the title implies, the heroine Bridget, a refined intelligent young heiress, and her childhood friend, Cormac, the stable hand on the estate, turned loved interest, are from different social classes. Throw in a miserable controlling mother and the odds of their relationship working out become even bleaker. This saga narrates the story of forbidden love, loss, tragedy and unyielding passion and kept me enthralled throughout. Rosemary is up to Book 4 in the series and the saga continues.
TAM: WHAT HAPPENED THAT NIGHT by SHEILA O’FLANAGAN
This is a story about a mother and daughter and their life in Ireland. It is a story of the past and the present following both women’s stories. It centres around a robbed jewellery store. Mother and daughter are impulsive and make bad decisions. They seem to overcome the bad outcomes. Tam read it in a couple of days. She said it was a good holiday read.
JUDY A: COUNTRY GIRLS by EDNA O’BRIEN (Published 1960)
Judy had an Edna O’Brien month. She read her first and last book and a couple in between. This is her first novel. It is often credited with breaking silence on sexual matters and social issues during a repressive period in Ireland following the Second World War. The book was banned, burned and denounced from the pulpit and caused an estrangement from her family. It’s a BILDUNGSROMAN, which means a coming-of-age novel - two teenage girls, Kathleen and Bridget growing up in Ireland – fairly tame by today’s standards. The book was followed by Girl with Green Eyes and then Girls in their Married Bliss. These books form the Country Girls Trilogy. Her last book, published in 2019 was called Girl. It’s based on the kidnapping by the Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram in 2014 of 276 girls aged 16 to 18.
TERESA: AKIN by EMMA DONAGHUE (published 2019)
The setting is contemporary. Noah, a retired professor is turning 80 years old. His wife and sister have died. He decides to go back to his birthplace in France. When he was very young, he was sent to America. While he was living in America, he found photographs of his mother living in France. He started to suspect she was working for the Germans. He investigated and was relieved to find she was part of the French Resistance. Noah’s sister’s 11year old grandson is becoming a ward of the state and Noah is becoming his guardian. He takes him to France. It works out well. Noah teaches him history and Michael helps him with technology. It was funny.
KRIS AND HELEN: SMALL THINGS LIKE THESE by CLAIRE KEEGAN
Hilary Mantel wrote “Wastes not a Word…….Exquisite.”
It’s just a small book but it tells a very powerful story. The story is set in an Irish village in 1985. Through the story of Bill Furlong and his family, it paints a portrait of life in Ireland at the time. Bill is a coal and timber merchant and coming up to Christmas is his busiest time. Through his deliveries to the convent, he meets a young girl who is desperate to escape the Magdalene laundry system, a mothers and baby’s home where many girls and their babies died. Bill knows how much control the Catholic Church has in his small community and the price he will pay if he makes a stand. Kris said is what well written and concise and worth reading. Her writing is a pleasure to read. Helen could not be at book club, but she said this book was full of hope and love. She enjoyed the read.
JO: SNOW by JOHN BANVILLE
Although Jo could not be with us today, she sent in her book report.
The story is about a priest who abused the boys in his care. He was castrated and stabbed in the neck. The detective also abused the boys. It was a good book despite the subject. He is a good author. The title is from the prevailing weather at the time of the murder. It was snowing a lot where they don’t usually get much snow.
LESLEY: OLD GOD’S TIME by SEBASTIAN BARRY (2023)
Lesley could not be at book club today either and sent in her book report.
This is a fictional story set in Dublin, 1960’s. The main character, Tom, a retired policeman, widowed, lives in an annexe of a castle overlooking the sea. He’s withdrawn from society, living through his memories of some happier times. An old case is reopened, and distant memories emerge - long buried secrets, his upbringing in an orphanage, child abuse, crimes where justice didn’t prevail. His recall of times past blend with his obvious dementia. What’s real and what’s imagined? It’s a bleak story, slow moving just like his memories but beautifully and carefully written. The facts are that violence and abuse are long lasting. Lesley said it wasn’t an easy read.
Kris
APRIL: Aussie April - we read any books by Australian authors
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