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Previously on Whom You Know, An Irish Country Village by Patrick Taylor was featured. As a surprise to no one, Peachy Deegan was all-Irish on St. Patrick's day and spent a good amount of time perusing this subsequent stellar work by Taylor. We liked this one even better as it was minus the medical references plus the Irish mythology and it was told from a female perspective! The current housekeeper of the doctors is our narrator and protagonist; she was once Maureen O'Hara living in County Cork, which is where Peachy lived. However, unlike Peachy, Maureen did not live in Cork City: she lived far away in the countryside on a farm. This also takes place in the 1920's and 1960's so the charm of the time was also considered.
For anyone that is all about a good story, this is it. You'll be drawn in from the start just like the schoolchildren that are listening to the tale right along with you, and you may never feel the same way again about foxes, vixens, ravens and most of all, blackthorn trees. The glossary in the back is even more highly developed and extensive than the previous book we reviewed and we loved adding to our Gaelic vocabulary, and also our English one at that. We've also never seen a book that captures mythology so well and that is something that many nationalities embrace as part of their culture. The Bean Sidhe (banshee) you may have seen before in the Darby O'Gill and the little people movie...but here it is far more authentic. You'll learn even more about Ireland by reading this book.
If you like a good love story, An Irish Country Girl is also for you. It's hard to believe this was written by a man! It also captures quite a bit of Irish history as it takes place just as the new Republic was emerging, and Michael Collins gets a few mentions (you must have seen this amazing movie with God Liam Neeson!). We won't give away the plot, but Peachy literally did not put this down and read it cover to cover. You'll be hooked too. Don't miss the recipes in the back-try them or give them to your resident Mrs. Patmore-and note that Corned Beef & Cabbage is American-it is not Irish.
Whom You Know Highly Recommends An Irish Country Girl by Patrick Taylor! This is the kind of craic you want to become addicted to.
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Readers of Patrick Taylor’s books know Mrs. Kinky Kincaid as the unflappable house-keeper who looks after two doctors in the colourful Irish village of Ballybucklebo. She is a trusted fixture in the lives of those around her, and it often seems as though Kinky has always been there.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Some forty-odd years before and many miles to the south a girl who would someday be Kinky Kincaid was Maureen O’Hanlon, a farmer’s daughter growing up in the green hills and glens of County Cork. A precocious girl on the cusp of womanhood, Maureen has a head full of dreams, a heart open to romance, and something more: a gift for seeing beyond the ordinary into the mystic realms of faeries, spirits, and even the dreaded Banshee, whose terrifying wail she hears on a snowy night in 1922…
As she grows into a young woman, Maureen finds herself torn between love and her fondest aspirations, for the future is a mystery even for one blessed with the sight. Encountering both joy and sorrow, Maureen at last finds herself on the road to Ballybucklebo—and the strong and compassionate woman she was always destined to become.
These maps were omitted from the trade paper version of An Irish Country Girl. They were drawn by Elizabeth Danforth.
