May 26, 2008
Seven foreboding tales from Keegan (Antarctica
) examine family, buried secrets and forbidden love in contemporary rural Ireland. In the title story, a priest questions his calling as he performs the wedding ceremony of a girl he once loved; after marrying her off to a lesser man, laments that “two people hardly ever want the same thing at any given point in life.” “The Forester's Daughter” follows a tragic chain of events prompted by a woman who agrees to marry against her better instincts “because if she said no, the question might never be asked of her again.” The final and strongest story centers on Margaret Flusk, a superstitious woman retreating from a personal tragedy into the farmhouse of her recently deceased cousin, who was a priest, and with whom she shared an abiding love. Word of her mysterious ability to heal soon gets out to the parish, breaking her isolation decisively. The more whimsical narratives fall a little flat (they're also brief), but in the longer, stronger pieces, Keegan's poetic prose, spot-on dialogue and well paced plot twists keep the pages turning through sadness, grief, rage and compromise.
June 10, 2024
Award-winning Irish author Keegan (Antarctica) delivered this delightful collection of short stories in 2008. Narrators Aidan Kelly, Aoife McMahon, and Aidan Quinn bring the stories to life in this newly published audiobook version. Listeners will be able to smell the peat fire as they listen to this all-star cast of narrators weave their magic spells. Within this collection is the never-before-published story, "The Long and Painful Death." A writer has won the honor of a two-week stay in German author Heinrich B�ll's adored Irish cottage. She finds her energies wandering from the writing she is meant to accomplish when a visitor interrupts her reverie. Other vivid characters are introduced as they experience the angst of leaving their Irish family and homeland for New York, or when they marry their last chance at love and find their life hopelessly monotonous until a salesman shows up at the door, or when they abandon the love of their life to become a priest. Kelly, McMahon, and Quinn are Irish actors and narrators with a broad range of accents and character voices that enhance the storytelling.--Laura Trombley
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