October 19. 2024
Old God's Time by.Sebastian Barry
Tom Kettle is a retired detective living in a small town on the Irish Sea. Two young detectives come to visit him to talk about reopening a case from ten years earlier. Their visit stirs up old memories for Tom, about his wife and children as well as his career.
DNF at about 40%. I loved Barry's earlier book Days Without End, but this one just dragged. The narrator on the audiobook seemed flat. Disappointing, not recommended.
July 6, 2023
The Rachel Incident by Caroline O'Donoghue
When she was a 20 year old university student, Rachel met the two most important men in her life, her BFF James and her English professor Dr. Byrne. Hoping to start a fling with Dr. Byrne, Rachel concocts a scheme to get Dr. Byrne to the bookstore where she works, with an eye toward some one-on-one time in the storeroom. But things backfire when she introduces him to her housemate James, and the two men are instantly attracted to each other.
Contemporary fiction set in 21st century Cork in Ireland. I forgot how awful being in your 20s could be: trying to find a job, convinced you're never going to find love, trying to save money so you can move to a decent apartment, avoiding your family while still needing them, convinced everyone else has it all sorted out. Funny and touching; I genuinely cared about the characters. Highly recommended and entertaining.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eARC for review.
Cork, Ireland - quite a picturesque small city
March 5, 2023
Juno Loves Legs by Karl Geary
Juno and Sean (christened Legs by Juno) meet and immediately bond at the local Catholic grade school, where the parish priest abuses both of them. Neither child fits in anywhere, at home, at school, on the playground. Juno is from one of the poorest families in the parish and is distrustful, expecting constantly to be bullied. Even as a child, it's obvious that Legs is different from the other boys, and Father (the parish priest) is determined to beat his homosexuality out of him. The two children are inseparable until Legs commits a terrible act that will tear the children apart, only to find each other again many years later.
OMG, I loved this book!! I read Juno Loves Legs in a single day, it's that good, and I found it impossible to put down. I loved the characters and the story. Juno and Legs are so tender with each other. If I have a complaint, it's that the ending felt a little rushed. Read this book! As soon as it's available!
Many thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for providing an eARC for review.
November 2, 2022
Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe
In Belfast in December 1972, a woman named Jean McConville was taken from her flat by a group of people with the IRA. Nine of her ten children waited at home for her to return but they never saw her again. In 1999, the IRA admitted to killing Mrs. McConville because they believed she had been passing information to the British Army stationed in the city. No evidence was ever found to back up their claim about Jean, and in fact, when she was abducted, her oldest son was serving time in prison for being an IRA member. Her body was not found until 2003. Dolours and Marian Price and Brendan Hughes, all infamous IRA members, are believed to have taken part in her murder. It is believed that Marian was the one who actually shot Jean. Dolours later claimed not to have known that Jean was the mother of ten children, although she was one of the people who removed Jean from her home.
The story of Jean's abduction and murder is set against the backdrop of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, including the London bombings, the Price sisters' hunger strike in prison, the death of Bobby Sands, and the founding of Sinn Fein, which lobbied for a unified Ireland. It also explores the dissatisfaction of old IRA members who believed that violence was the only way to get their message across to the British, with the new philosophy of compromise and working through legal political channels. The impact of the Boston College oral history project about the Troubles is also discussed at length in this very readable piece of narrative nonfiction.
October 4, 2021
The Guest List by Lucy Foley
At an exclusive island resort off the coast of Ireland, a magazine publisher and a television star have planned the destination wedding of their dreams. But the wedding party and the guests are more like frenemies than real friends. Things start to go badly wrong shortly after the vows are said and the champagne is opened, when a body is discovered on the grounds.
An homage to Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None." Like Christie's mystery, it's psychological fiction, slow-burning and slow moving, with many different narrators and everyone suspecting everyone else. Many of the characters are not who the others think they are. The solution to the mystery and the conclusion are satisfying. Pay attention to the change in narrators and the subtle clues that are dropped throughout. Revenge is a dish best served cold.
February 20, 2021
Trials and Tribulations by Jean Grainger
In the final installment in the Robinswood trilogy, Sam and Kate Kennefick have renovated part of the Robinswood estate and reopened it as a hotel. But they need help to run such a large house. Siblings Eve and her husband Bartley (seventh son of a seventh son, one of the travelers, tinkers or gypsies), Lady Lillian and her African American husband Beau, and Aisling and her troubled husband Mark all come to the estate, hopefully to contribute. Even Lillian, who at first is referred to as being as useful "as an ashtray on a motorbike" finds her niche. There are joys and sorrows for all of the family members, with a bittersweet conclusion.
January 24, 2021
Return to Robinswood by Jean Grainger
It's 1946, and World War II has finally ended. Sam Kennewick, the new Lord Kennewick following the death of his father, marries Kate Murphy, the caretaker's oldest daughter. They return to Robinswood, the family estate in County Clare, Ireland. Sam's mother has attempted to sell the property but it is too run down for anyone to buy it. Sam and Kate decide to turn it into a hotel, but they will need help in order to rehab the decaying house and property. During the war, Sam's sister Lillian had an affair with Beau, an African American serviceman, that resulted in a baby, but they are unable to marry while Beau is still in the military. He returns to the U.S.A. to be demobilized, but ends up in prison. The second Murphy daughter, Eve, is living with a friend, helping to care for her children while they wait for the friend's husband to come home from the war. The youngest Murphy daughter's husband comes home from the war with a severe case of PTSD that results in increasingly violent behavior. When he ends up in jail, Aisling decides to return to her family home in Ireland. Refurbishing the Robinswood Estate and reopening it as a grand hotel may offer salvation for both the Kennewick and Murphy families
January 15, 2021
What Once Was True by Jean Grainger
Two Irish families, the aristocratic Keneficks and the working class Murphys. The Murphy children have grown up at Robinswood, a grand estate in County Clare, Ireland, where their parents work as caretakers. Lord and Lady Kenefick are British and even though Lord Kenefick gambles and drinks away the family fortune, they work hard to keep up appearances. Their once fine mansion is falling down around them and there is no money for repairs. After Lord Kenefick's death, Lady Kenefick decides to put the estate up for sale and moves to London.
With the loss of Robinswood, the Murphys are forced to find a new home and new jobs. With the start of World War II, two of the Murphy daughters move to England to join the women's air force, while the two Kenefick children are forced to reinvent themselves as well.
December 22, 2020
This is Happiness by Niall Williams
Change is coming to the small town of Faha, located on the western coast of Ireland where nothing has changed for a thousand years. Not only is electricity being installed, the rain has finally stopped.
Lyrical prose, beautiful descriptions, and endearing characters are all reasons to read this slow-moving story where not much happens but so much happens. The story will stay with you long after you finish the book.
July 20, 2022
Haven by Emma Donoghue
After a prophetic dream where God tells him to found a new monastery in a remote location, a priest chooses two monks to accompany him. His chosen spot is a small island (really, a large barren rock) inhabited only by waterfowl. No fresh water, no vegetation, no trees, not even any soil for growing food. The two monks (one elderly, one young) devote themselves to survival and making it work, figuring out ways to collect fresh water, compost soil, and find fuel. They manage to "MacGyver" every challenge that they face, until they realize that the priest is most likely an insane egomaniac.
I really liked the two monks and about halfway through, I was hoping they would push the priest off the top of the rock into the sea. Although the priest is supposed to be focused on God, he really is focused on glorifying himself and how future generations of monks will think he was such a fabulous guy.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eARC.
