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| View of Ben Bulben from Drumcliffe, County Sligo |
This summer I visited Ireland, the home of my grandparents,
for the first time. The experience left me wondering why I had waited so long.
The beauty of the landscape and
the
welcoming kindness of the people were overwhelming. We stayed in the small
village of
Drumcliffe, north of Sligo, in the west of Ireland. This is the
country beloved by
W. B. Yeats, the subject of many of his poems, and the place
where he is buried. It was an emotional experience to visit the great poet’s
grave in the churchyard of
St. Columba’s. The simple stone bears the epitaph he
wrote himself in one of his last poems,
Under Ben Bulben.
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| Ruins of an abbey on the island of Inishmurray |
Once in Ireland, we were so busy visiting ancient Celtic
sites, ruins of medieval abbeys and castles, stunning scenery on the
Wild Atlantic Way, and of course pubs, that I had little time for reading. But since
returning home I’ve extended my visit vicariously by reading some new Irish novels.
Here is a sampling:
This debut is a finalist for Irish Book of the Year. Lonely
Vivian wanders the streets of Dublin longing for a friend. Told by her parents
that she was a changeling “left by the fairies,” she has never quite fit into
the real world. In desperation she advertises for a friend, who must be named
Penelope. When a Penelope answers the ad, Vivian is drawn away from her search
for a portal to the fairy world. Whimsical and touching.
This historical novel is not for the faint hearted. It is a
searing journey through Ireland at the time of the potato famine in the company
of Grace, a teenage girl whose mother sends her away from home dressed as a boy
so she can get work and perhaps survive. Told in a lyrical language with the
weight of ancient myth, this is an unflinching portrait of the sufferings of
the Irish people and their desperate struggle to survive.
The new novel by the author of
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is the story of one man’s life in
Ireland from the 1940’s to the present. We meet Cyril Avery before he is born,
when his teenage pregnant mother is denounced by the priest and banished from
her village. In Dublin she gives her baby up for adoption to the Averys, an
eccentric couple who constantly remind Cyril that he is not a “real Avery.”
Dickensian in scope and spirit, brimming with irreverent humor and pathos, this
is an indelible portrait of Irish life through decades of change.
The comic tale of an orphan’s quest to find the truth about
the mother who may or may not have given him up willingly. Mahoney returns to his
birth village of Mulderigg, unleashing a chaotic blend of gossip, intrigue, murder, and hauntings. A very Irish mix of humor,
eccentric characters, and unexpected plot twists make for a completely
captivating read.
For mystery fans I can recommend two wonderful, though quite
different, series set in Ireland:
Peter Tremayne is a pseudonym of Celtic scholar Peter B. Ellis. He writes the
Sister Fidelma series, set in ancient Ireland. The heroine and amateur detective is a nun trained in the 7th century
Brehon law system. Readers can learn
about ancient Ireland while enjoying these well-written and intricately plotted
mysteries.
Fast-forward to the 21st century and
Ken Bruen’s hard edged series that has been dubbed “Hibernian Noir.” The protagonist Jack Taylor, fired by the Garda, the Irish Police, for drinking, is now a
private detective in Galway. These mysteries take us into a world of gangsters
and murderers far from the cozy image of tourist Ireland.
Léitheoireacht shona!
(that's Happy Reading in Gaelic).
Rita T.
Labels: Books, History, Travel
