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In a small town near Belfast, during the Troubles, Cushla juggles her teaching job, bar keeping at the family bar at night, a perpetually drunk mother, the man she‘s having an affair with, and giving her heart to a young student whose poor Protestant family is barely making ends meet when the father is beaten so badly he can no longer function. There‘s a lot going on yet this short book moves at a snail‘s pace. We are given intimate details ⬇️

The main story here is of an Irish woman in 1910 who is delighted when an American man comes to her village to collect local stories about fairies. It‘s framed by a modern storyline of an American woman at loose ends in Ireland. A bit skimpy but charming. A low pick for me.

Frankie, an octogenarian that broke her leg and is in need of a carer, finds in Damian, a fellow expat from West Cork, the care that she needs, maybe not physically but emotionally. Loved to hear about Frankie's life as she tells it and about the gay scene in London and NY, and all the art... the book feels well researched and I love Graham Norton's style. Perhaps jumping to the present doesn't feel as necessary, but I don't like Epilogues and ⬇️

I bought this because I enjoyed another one by him that we read with the #NYRB group a few years ago. Now I finally picked it up and I wasn‘t disappointed. It‘s dark and a bit gothic and very Irish (I think). Jamie Mangan is traveling to Ireland to delve into his past and to learn is he‘s a descendant of a famous 19th century Irish poet. His journey takes him to a small village with lots of remarkable people.

As long as you go into this knowing that you‘ll have to slow your reading way down, you‘ll be fine. Williams‘ writing is dense & beautiful, with descriptions that bring you so close to the reality of the person, place & thing that you‘ll come out of the story feeling as if you were there. The child in question doesn‘t appear until halfway through the story and by then you‘ve become thoroughly acquainted with the characters of Faha & their lives.

Just loved this book. It took me a while to get into it but so glad I kept going. By the time the story unfolded I had a good handle on the main characters. I had to really concentrate at times on his beautiful writing. Good tears at the end for me. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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