I like books with an Irish background and this is my first read of this author. I understand there is a whole series of books with Father Tim so am looking forward to the next!
The Irish seem very family conscious, very gregarious and also very insular! (almost Asian I think!!). The story starts with Cynthia and Tim's sojourn in Ireland - a holiday much looked forward to and planned with a careful itinerary and planned excursions. It all goes up though with a series of adventures or rather misadventures - Cynthia twisting her ankle as a result of
a rogue jumping out of her from a cupboard, a theft of a valuable painting from the house, and general mayhem including family secrets that the two somehow get embroiled in as if they were part of the family themselves.
What captures your interest in this book is the easy going but profound attitude that Tim shares with others about God and his ability to calm and counsel without seeming to do so. The extent to which human beings will hide secrets even to their detriment and the need to confess seems equally strong. The little bits of information of Mitford was nice for me as I have not read any of the other books but it is the descriptiveness of Ireland and the Irish that held me in thrall.
A very nice read for a Sunday afternoon.
Yes, the series is lovely. I haven't read this book yet but I want to now that I've read your review!
ReplyDeleteI found it very interesting that the totally Irish Frank O'Connor in his famous book on the short story (1961)-The Lonely Voice-A Study of the Short Story-says circa 1961 the Indian Short Story is starting to surpass in quality the Irish Short Story-I think he must have meant mostly R. K. Narayan and Tagore-both well known in Ireland-I liked your comparison to Asian works a lot-I agree
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