Irish Emigrant Book Review, No. 20 (March 1997)

Alva by Rose Doyle
Covers a wide canvas stretching from a lonely childhood in Dublin to the mountains of Colombia. The eponymous Alva takes on the burden of a small hotel in Dublin which becomes the location for a film, disrupting and changing the lives of the occupants. All three find solutions to their problems in different ways; Alva has to pursue her dream to South America, while the elderly brother and sister who were the original owners of the crumbling mansion find their own more pragmatic ways of dealing with an uncertain future. The storyline in this book is well sustained, though some of the lesser characters appear a little stereotypical.

Today In The Cafe Trieste by Richard Tillinghast
Richard Tillinghast, Professor of English at the University of Michigan, spent a year living in Kinvara, Co. Galway, and is also on the board of The Poets’ House in Donegal. His latest volume, “Today In The Cafe Trieste” includes his most recent poems and a selection of work from three of his US-published books. Tillinghast takes us from the bayous of Louisiana in “Shooting Ducks in South Louisiana” where he likens a moccasin snake to being:
“cocky as you might feel stepping out on Canal Street gong for coffee at 4 A.M. at the Café due Monde.”
to the
“turf smoke blown through drizzle, oystery brine-tang over Quay Street.”
of Galway. In “Father in October” he conveys a great sense of the intimate history of a family, where “the house told stories, of interest only to us”; “Sewaanee in Ruins: Part 1” draws a contrast between the lives lived by his students and the experiences of the young at the time of the Civil War:
“The privilege of being young, the luxury of ignoring history - this is what their great-great-grandfathers fought for, though they lost.”

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The Knife In The Wave by Mary O’Malley
- imbued with pain, both physical and emotional. In “Innocentii” we feel the loss of parents of unbaptised children as they return to
“Bless their fathers’ avid eyes, fill The universe of their mothers’ arms,”
Physical pain and the indifference shown by those who should be helping to ease it, who will “brook no talk of pain”, are caught in the final lines of “Panacea”:
“Lady Morphia sneers and walks away with her white coat open and her black hair loose.”
However, there is also delight among the poems; “The Lightcatchers” addresses Maeve on her eleventh birthday,
“You spark and shine through every room In the house. Home is the husk. Soon you will shuck it off to go dancing.”

Iron Mountain Road by Eamonn Wall
- Eamonn Wall moves seamlessly from the small streets and villages of north Wexford to the open spaces of Nebraska. In an almost conversational tone he reminisces about his life among “the bare meadows of the Slaney”, trying to make sense of his new life in New York and Nebraska by constantly referring back to his origins:
“...the Abbey Square’s become a freeway joining Wexford to the Treaty of Rome &
a piece of the felled Cotton Tree decorates a coffee table in my house in Omaha...”
The poems demonstrate the contrast between the childhood experiences of the poet and his children, a gulf which he tries to bridge in “Father and Son: Nebraska”,
“...He knows I’m listening not for what he has to say but eyes closed for his timbre which tells me how it was to lie in bed in summer, the sea not a quarter mile away.”

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Blackstaff guide to Game Angling in the North of Ireland by John Todd
- For the angling enthusiast, the “Blackstaff guide to Game Angling in the North of Ireland” will prove invaluable in the wealth of information it contains. The author, John Todd, concentrates on the five main fishing areas, the Foyle system, Lough Erne and Lough Melvin, the Lough Neagh catchment and the Northern and Eastern watersheds, taking in the river Bush in the north and the river Whitewater in Co. Down. For each area he gives the main species to be found, with advice on the best methods to use to be sure of a catch. A selection of maps and a list of useful addresses for each area are also included, as well as a number of attractive photographs.

Irish Voices, Irish Lives by Ben Lander
- Swede Ben Lander has chosen a cross-section of Irish men and women to interview about their lives. Living here permanently since 1992, Ben began his series of interviews in a bid to reach a greater understanding of the country. His subjects include: Seamus Hogan, who took to free range pigfarming to escape a life on the dole, and who has also published two volumes of poetry; Fr Pat Buckley, the controversial Larne priest, explaining his relationship with the Church that has disowned him, and the basis for his sometimes unorthodox practices; Grainne Daly describing the intricacies of the process of matchmaking in Ireland; and Maureen Hogan, the mother of Seamus, who shares with the reader what it is like to be suddenly blind. The twelve interviews are all interesting in their own particular way and succeed in addressing many of our prejudices.

The Modern Traveller to the Early Irish Church by Kathleen Hughes and Ann Hamlin
- An introduction to early Irish church buildings by Kathleen Hughes and Ann Hamlin will appeal especially to those with little prior knowledge of the subject. “The Modern Traveller to the Early Irish Church” is written in a readily accessible style and covers the location of sites, the function and economy of the various settlements, and the state in which the visitor will find each building now. Augmented by lists of suggested reading, many drawings and a location map, this reprint of a book published originally in 1977 would be useful companion on any visit to this country.

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Chronicle Of The Celts by Iain Zaczek
- Covering the Celtic tradition in Ireland, Wales and Brittany, “Chronicle Of The Celts” by Iain Zaczek focuses on a selection of well-known tales from the three Celtic civilizations. Interspersed with these are short articles on important Celtic festivals, details of Celtic art, the significance of the “otherworld” in Celtic life, illumination, and many other components of the Celtic world. The book is lavishly illustrated with photographs in both colour and black and white, and it also includes a punctuation guide for those less familiar with the language.

Touching A Chord by Pamela Rea
- In last month’s Book Review I mentioned the reminiscences of the Sisters of Mercy in Lurgan as they celebrated the 130th anniversary of their convent. The interview with the nuns, conducted by freelance journatlist Pamela Rea, is one of 77 such interviews included in “Touching A Chord”. All the subjects chosen by Ms Rea have or had a significant role in the life of the North, particularly in the areas of Armagh and Dungannon. David McConnell, with family connections to Samuel Beckett, gives an account of his great-grandfather George Beckett; saddler and former amateur jockey Jackie Stinson talks of his love of horses and his work in National Hunt breeding; Benignus McCusker recalls the days when he and his eight brothers travelled the world with their Ceili Band; and Annie Wilson recounts the wartime exploits of her brother Sam Brodison, who parachuted into Yugoslavia and befriended Marshal Tito and his partisan army. Each interview reveals something of its subject as well as many details of everyday life, giving a fascinating cross-section of life in the North, both past and present.

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