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Irish Emigrant Book Review, No.72 (Jul 2001)
THE BODY ROCK
by K.T. McCaffrey
- One hundred and fifty years ago an artist was convicted of the murder
of his wife on Ireland’s Eye, the small island just off Howth, at a point
that came to be known as the Body Rock. K.T. McCaffrey has chosen this
location for his third novel to feature journalist Emma Boylan, an Emma
newly returned from her honeymoon and immediately embroiled in a series
of unexplained happenings. The opening scene shows us the suicide of a
young man, a death which has its causes in events which happened long
before he was born, though the consequences of those long ago events will
stretch out to touch more and more people before the story comes to a
conclusion. As with previous books by this author, I found myself surveying
the cast of characters and suspecting all the wrong people; who was the
more corrupt, third world agency leader Maeve Wilson and her colleague
Fergus Massey, or her businessman husband Todd? Why was their former friend
and now employee Ethel Cassidy so bitter and what had caused her twin
sister’s flight to England all those years ago? Emma sets out to find
the link between all of these people and how they are related to a set
of disappearing paintings, and becomes one of a number of innocent victims
caught up in a web of violence. The Body Rock is seen as a curiosity,
as a place to show an inquisitive child, and finally as a place of terror,
and once again K.T. McCaffrey contrives to conceal until the last the
answers to all our questions, though in the final analysis there seems
to be an inordinate number of assumptions on the part of the journalist
and Connolly, the detective with whom she works on the case. Initially
the concentration on Emma’s emotional life I found rather irksome, but
it is justified in that it has a strong bearing on her actions, motivating
her to pursue her goal relentlessly until she has marshalled all the facts.
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REPUBLICAN INTERNMENT
AND THE PRISON SHIP ARGENTA, 1922 by Denise Kleinrichert
- What is quite extraordinary about the book, written by the granddaughter
of one of the men interned on the ship, is the wealth of detail given,
detail which is obviously the result of painstaking research on the part
of the author. The events of May 22, 1922, when members of the security
forces carried out a ’sweep’ during which hundreds of men were arrested
and subsequently interned, arose after the murder of Belfast City Councillor
William Twaddell, who was also the Member of Parliament for West Belfast.
Those lifted were initially held in barracks and jails across the North,
but their final destination was the prison ship Argenta, a US-built wooden
vessel which had been bought by the Northern Ireland government in May,
1922. It was the belief of officials at the Ministry for Home Affairs
that a prison ship would be cheaper than internment camps and would be
more secure. Ms Kleinrichert gives a graphic account of the living conditions
aboard the vessel, which was moved from its original position in Belfast
Lough, where it was deemed a hazard to shipping, to Larne Lough, with
Larne Workhouse being used to house some of the internees. The way in
which the men kept themselves occupied, with the shipboard Lough Derg
pilgrimage being particularly notable, the restrictions placed on them
with regard to family contact, and the abysmally low standard of personal
and food hygiene endured are all highlighted. The men, and a small number
of women who were held in Armagh Prison, endured some thirty-one months
of internment and many refused to go before the Advisory Committee and
have a chance of release, since they did not recognize the authority of
the Northern Ireland government. James Goodman, the author’s grandfather,
is the subject of an Epilogue in which his own personal story is related,
his arrest, internment and subsequent emigration to Canada. The author’s
attention to detail is continued in a number of appendices, one of which
gives the name of each of those interned, with some biographical detail
where it is known. This is a personal journey for the author, as well
as an exhaustively researched account of one period in Northern Ireland’s
troubled history.
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THE GREAT IRISH
POTATO FAMINE by James S. Donnelly, JR.
- The author, Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison,
has set out to bring to both students and a wider audience a view of the
Famine in Ireland which reflects the changing outlook in the popular mind
and among professional historians over the last one hundred and fifty
years. The nationalist view, promulgated in particular by John Mitchel,
laid the blame firmly at the door of the British government and this view
was virtually consistently held for the next century. Revisionist historians
then took the opposite view, refuting the use of words such as genocide
to describe Britain’s influence on the events in Ireland in the 1840s,
promulgating instead economic and social reasons for the devastation.
Professor Donnelly gives a cogent and balanced overview of the events,
leading the reader through the arrival of the potato blight, its immediate
effect, the British government’s measures to meet the catastrophe and
the part played by the landed gentry in the eventual outcome. There is,
of course, a chapter devoted to land clearance and emigration, as there
is to the 1848 rising, while the final chapter gives extracts from writings
and from memories collected by the Folklore Commission which copperfastened
the view that Britain’s stance on the Famine, that Irish property must
pay for Irish poverty, was the root cause of the evil that befell the
nation. In a subsection of this chapter, entitled “Setting the Record
Straight”, perhaps one of the most enduring misapprehensions of the Famine
years, the belief that exports of food from Ireland far outweighed imports,
is finally laid to rest. Quoting P.M.A. Bourke, the author provides statistics
to show that in the years 1847 and 1848 the total imports of grain were
three times the amount of grain exported. In this comprehensive account
of the famine years in Ireland the British government is by no means exonerated,
nor are the landlords, but reason has been brought to bear on some of
the more extreme criticisms levelled by contemporary and later commentators.
What makes this work particularly accessible is not only the author’s
use of both illustrations and explanatory graphs, but the detailed explanation
accompanying each which fleshes out the historical facts with a human
dimension.
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UNWEAVING THE
THREAD by Monica Tracey
- In her first novel Monica Tracey takes us back to the North of the mid-20th
century and describes the events which tend to pepper every childhood,
birth and death, disruption and joy. The plainer of two sisters, Mary
Ann Ward has been haunted all her life by her refusal to help a friend
in distress. That it was a refusal caused by her tender years and ignorance
is no help, she has tried to push the thought of Eva to the back of her
mind. Coming home to Ireland after the break-up of her marriage, Mary
Ann is drawn back into the family and looks back to when she and her sister
Bridie were growing up, the daughters of a quarryman father and a sickly
mother. An unhappy period spent living with her mother’s family, the McKennas,
in Monaghan is the prelude to a series of revelations about that family’s
past that are gradually uncovered during the course of the narrative.
The death of a child and the ensuing guilt, and the lengths to which families
will go to retain a holding of land are hidden secrets to the young Mary
Ann, but the guilt associated with the death of the child mirrors her
own guilt over the death in childbirth of her childhood friend, Eva. Not
all is gloom and doomin this novel, however, and Ms Tracey has an unerring
eye for the irony of life. When Mary Ann’s place in the Holy Week procession
is given to Eileen McKillop she prays that the girl’s hair will frizzle
up and drop out. What is actually described is her sister’s hair and veil
catching alight from a candle, leaving Mary Ann to the conclusion that
the devil had answered her prayers. Life in the North just after the war
was as difficult then as now for a Catholic girl and a Protestant boy
who became too friendly, and Mary Ann’s relationship with Alan, a boy
from the local High School, experiences a number of ups and downs before
they find each other away from the bigotry and sectarianism of home. While
“Unweaving the Thread” begins at a point where their relationship appears
to have broken down and Mary Ann has come home to establish a new life,
her experience of the reality of life in the North and with her family
persuades her to give Alan, and her marriage, another chance. Much of
this book is surely autobiographical and some of the characters taken
from real life. Nobody could invent the wonderful Sister Vincent, sent
to chaperone the younger Sister Mary Francis to a funeral, who responds
to an offer of a glass of sherry with, “You could try offering us some
of your Bushmills”.
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GOING WEST by
Barbara Fitzgibbon
- When sailing enthusiasts Barbara and Frank Fitzgibbon’s family had all
left home they took the adventurous step of deciding to take part in the
Atlantic Crossing Rally, an event designed to facilitate those undertaking
a round the world voyage who preferred to have much of the preparatory
work carried out for them. Though they did spend two years sailing around
the world, embarking and disembarking various of their six children at
ports along the way and also learning of the birth of their first grandchild
while at sea, the voyage was punctuated by a series of accidents. Frank
had to be hospitalised for a urinary infection in Madeira and Barbara
had to return to Ireland for plastic surgery on a finger crushed while
she was carrying out repair work on Atlantic Islander, their fourteen-ton
ketch. Ms Fitzgibbon’s narrative paints a realistic picture of the highs
and lows of their two-year odyssey, though I suspect the exclamation mark
key on her keyboard must have been worn out by the time she had completed
her book, given the number of times it was used. The couple had a real
sense of achievement and fulfilment while wondering how they would settle
back into life on land. This adjustment was made more difficult by the
death of Barbara’s sister, Sue, a few months after they came home. Sue
had taken on much responsibility for her sister and brother-in-law and
Barbara felt her death particularly keenly.
IRISH IMMIGRANTS
IN NEW YORK CITY, 1945-1995 by Linda Almeida
- The author has examined in some detail the different values and expectations
of two groups of immigrants from Ireland into New York, those who arrived
in the 1940s and 1950s and the later wave of young people who left Ireland
in the 1980s. The two fundamental differences between the groups seem
to have been the question of legality and the role of the Catholic Church.
When the earlier group arrived in New York there were few restrictions
on their entry, giving them a secure base from which to embark on their
new lives. Conversely, the later immigrants were largely illegal and this
affected their willingness to interact with others for fear of discovery.
While the earlier group tended to gather in like groups and base their
lives on the parish in which they settled, the young people of the 1980s
had less affinity with the Church so that this avenue of communication
was not open to them. To its credit the Church responded to the new situation
and offered a different kind of help better suited to the needs of the
1980s immigrants. This is a meticulously researched social history of
the Irish in New York which lacks only the direct voice of the immigrants
themselves.
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THE SHAPE OF
IRISH HISTORY by A.T.Q. Stewart
- Urging a study of the country’s geography before a full understanding
of its history can be acquired, the former Reader in Irish History at
Queen’s has written a witty and astute look at the way in which history
has been interpreted. He questions the narrow outlook of his own profession,
in particular their ignoring of history before the advent of documentation,
and gives a number of examples of events which have not reached a wider
audience. One instance is that of the devastating famine one hundred years
before what has come to be known as The Irish Famine. While the sack of
Drogheda by Oliver Cromwell has been well-documented, and somewhat rroneously
according to the author, the earlier massacre of Protestant planters in
1641 has been less well documented though at the time the action caused
fears of an Irish invasion along the west coast of Britain. A.T.Q. Stewart
takes the reader step by step through the history of our country pointing
out how the prevailing values and events at a particular time have influenced
the way in which contemporary historians have recorded those events. He
focuses on the “spaces” in Irish history, as first recognized by Caesar
Litton Falkiner in the early years of the 20th century, the less well-documented
periods, and introduces a mischievous and entertaining Agatha Christie
analogy to examine this phenomenon.
THE YEARS FLEW
BY ed. Alan Hayes
- First published in 1974, this collection of reminiscences by Sydney
Gifford, better known perhaps by her pseudonym John Brennan, is introduced
by Gifford Lewis, a distant relative of the writer. An informative biographical
section by the editor introduces us to the Gifford family whose most notable
members were probably Grace and Muriel, both married to signatories to
the 1916 proclamation. Sydney Gifford’s commentary on the customs and
lifestyle of her early years throws an interesting and personal slant
on the narrative, while her involvement with the Republican movement both
at home and in America is extensively chronicled. An appendix contains
a selection of her writings which appeared in publications such as An
Phoblacht, the Irish Independent and the Irish citizen, though a certain
amount of repetition creeps in when these are read in conjunction with
the other two sections of the book.
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THE OGHAM STONE
ed. Gerald Dawe and Michael Mulreany
- This volume has been produced by the Institute of Public Administration
as a natural development of its literature courses for US students in
Ireland to study politics, a programme which has been established for
twenty years. The contributors to the book have also been involved with
the literature programme and their entries reflect a variety of thought
and theme. Among poets whose work is included are Thomas Kinsella and
Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill, Brendan Kennelly and Paula Meehan, while David Norris
contributes two poems and an essay on Jerusalem. Michael Johnston, the
son of Denis Johnston, writes a memoir of Etwall House which is accompanied
by photographs of members of the Johnston family. The Lansdowne Road property,
which was owned by his grandfather and in which he spent some years of
his childhood, is now the home of the IPA. With this volume, subtitled
“An Anthology of Contemporary Ireland”, the IPA has taken a new direction
in its publishing career.
DUBLIN METROPOLITAN
POLICE by Jim Herlihy
- Former member of the Garda Siochana Jim Herlihy has written another
informative and entertaining book about the guardians of the peace in
Ireland, this time concentrating on the legendary Dublin force. The front
cover gives a good lead as to the tone of the contents, since it features
part of an advertisement for a brand of tobacco and shows a member of
the force enjoying his pipe while marching on parade. The author does,
of course, give much detail about the history, rules of entry and lifestyles
of the members of the DMP, most of whom were country men, but he intersperses
these with anecdotes and excerpts from journals and other sources which
brings the individual members to life. Thus we have a section from James
Stephens’ “A Charwoman’s Daughter” and a delightful extract from the Freeman’s
Journal recording a court case involving a particularly resilient widow
who had been found insensible from drink. The role of the DMP in a number
of famous cases is also chronicled, the disappearance of the Irish Crown
Jewels and the murders of Lord Frederick Cavendish and Thomas Burke being
two examples, and an extensive chapter deals with G Division, the detective
division of the force established in 1843. For those who had ancestors
in the DMP the book is particularly helpful since Mr Herlihy lists those
who served, highlighting those who fought in the First World War, those
killed on active duty in the force and all those to whom medals were awarded.
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SIGNPOSTS TO
KERRY by Nora Relihan
- Nora Relihan, a founder of Listowel Writers’ Week, here takes us on
a gentle ramble around the Kingdom, entertaining the reader with facts
both historical and geographical on its many wonders. Beginning at the
ferry port of Tarbert we are taken on an anti-clockwise tour of the county,
stopping off at such notable sites as Ballybunion, Crag Caves, The Blaskets,
Staigue Fort and the Lakes of Killarney. A number of chapters are devoted
to personalities rather than places, Sigerson Clifford, Antarctic explorer
Tom Crean, and Joan Collis Sandes of Oak Park in Tralee, and a chapter
is also devoted to the famous Kerry cow. This is a useful little book,
not overladen with detail but giving a selection of what is on offer for
the visitor to Kerry.
REFLECTIONS
OF CONTEMPORARY IRISH MEN by Valerie O’Sullivan
- Valerie O’Sullivan has photographed a total of sixty-five Irishmen for
this collection of the thoughts, prayers and chosen poetry of a cross-section
of Irish manhood. Some are notably succinct, such as John B. Keane’s “For
all travellers, myself included, wherever or whoever they may be, please
change those of evil intent to good”, and photographer Patrick Casey’s
“Choose life at whatever risk. In keeping your head under the cover, nothing
will ever happen to you ... good or bad ... so take the plunge!”. Others
reflect at length on their lives and expand their ideas with a chosen
verse. Bishop Bill Murphy of Kerry quotes both Patrick Kavanagh and Elizabeth
Barrett Browning while composer Michael McGlynn chooses “A Soldier’s Grave”
by Francis Ledwidge, whose poetry has inspired his own compositions. Valerie
O’Sullivan’s subjects range from the famous to the more obscure, each
man representing a facet of life in Ireland today.
TALES WITHOUT
REASON by Thomas O’Malley
- Thomas O’Malley’s book relates a harrowing tale of a small group of
priests who had to contend, not only with appalling physical conditions
both on their journey to Australia and in trying to establish a mission,
but also with an incompetent and vengeful bishop. Father Francois Thevaux
and Father Francois Joseph Thierse were members of the newly founded Missionaries
of the Holy Heart of Mary. The two young priests were sent by their superior,
Father Frances Libermann, to join Bishop John Brady of Perth in his mission
to the developing colony of Australia. The author has faithfully recorded
the many trials experienced by the pair, due to a significant extent to
the parsimony and financial mismanagement of Bishop Brady, and amply justifies
the subtitle of his work, “Forgotten heroes of the Apostolate in 1840s
Australia”.
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7 DAYS IN DUBLIN
by Shane Kennedy
- In another instance of the front cover setting the tone, the illustration
of this Dublin guide, showing a small boy poking his tongue out at the
statue of Patrick Kavanagh on the canal bank, is unveils a “telling it
how it is” guide to the capital city and its environs. As the title suggests,
each day is apportioned its list of sights to be seen, with the final
day taking in Wicklow and Meath/Louth, and a comprehensive commentary
accompanies each section. The visitors’ introduction to Dublin includes
the warning that, at the time of writing, Dublin Airport was a mess, and
that a good map is necessary as Dublin signposts are notoriously deficient.
The author’s selection of restaurants and pubs is avowedly carried out
on a personal basis and his comments on a number of Dublin landmarks are
similarly quirky. Molly Malone, he declares, “does not look at all feverish;
in fact, she looks like a Baywatch wannabe in the whole of her health”.
The reader is given an appropriate history of each area and its place
in the fluctuating fashion of city life, with many apposite comments on
the architectural merit of buildings ancient and modern. The destruction
of part of the Four Courts during the Civil War and the consequent loss
of historical documents the author describes as “the worst and most wicked
act of cultural vandalism in twentieth-century Ireland”. Dubliner Shane
Kennedy has produced a guide to his native city that will appeal to both
the visitor to our country and to those of us who live here but know too
little about it.
ISLAND FUNERAL
by Bill Doyle
- This stunning collection of photographs arose from a visit by photographer
Bill Doyle to Inis Oirr in 1965. His arrival coincided with the funeral
of Joe Mhairtin O Flaithearta, his coffin carried by six islanders followed
by his widow in black shawl and red petticoat. It was a sight the photographer
found “both magnificent and terrifying”. This extraordinary colourful
record of an island ritual is accompanied by Muiris Mac Conghail’s bilingual
text on the circumstances of the visit and of the obvious spirituality
of the islanders. A book to be cherished.
THE GAP OF
THE NORTH by Noreen Cunningham & Pat McGinn
- In this well set out guide the authors have covered the main monuments
of four counties, Armagh, Down, Louth and Monaghan, listing each alphabetically
and providing important details about each site. The book is designed
for those who wish to find their way around the monuments and each is
categorised and the nearest town or village is given, as are the grid
reference, the monument’s reference number and the category of protection
it enjoys from the relevant heritage body. These essential facts are augmented
in each case by a description of the monument, its associated history
and archaeology and any folklore or legend connected with it. Thus in
describing Narrow Water Castle near Warrenpoint, the authors have included
the story of Lassara and her minstrel lover. A useful map of the area
and a number of photographs and drawings complete this valuable aid to
one corner of Ireland.
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