This week's books - history, memoir and fantasy
This week there’s history, memoir, short fiction and fantasy to explore.
Aftershock, Liz McSkeane, Turas Press, €16
On All Souls Day in 1755, Lisbon was hit by a catastrophic earthquake that flattened the city and it was followed by a tsunami that wreaked further havoc. Dom Sebastião José Carvalho e Melo, the king’s Minister of War and Foreign Affairs, witnesses the destruction from the safety of the city’s surrounding hills and promises the monarchy that he will rebuild the city and return it to its former glory. Which he does, collecting powerful civic titles and accolades along the way, eventually becoming the Marquis of Pombal. And while, in the Age of Enlightenment, the Marquis is interested in making the new city ‘earthquake proof’ by scientific means, the leader of the Jesuit community, Gabrial Malagrida SJ, insists that the quake was the act of an angry God. The history books tell us what happened to Malagrida.
The Marquis of Pombal, initially regarded by the King and his subjects as the city’s saviour, lets the power go to his head and this ‘saviour’ will become a vicious dictator, intolerant of anyone who opposes him. Power corrupts, as they say. McSkeane has written a completely absorbing novel based on fact, one that easily matches the great works of Hilary Mantel and deserves as much acclaim. This is a magnificent work.
Still, Julia Kelly, New Island, €15.95
In 2012, Julia Kelly’s mother Delphine drowned while swimming in the Galapagos. This elegant memoir is in remembrance of, and in tribute to, the author’s mother. It’s also the chronicle of a journey through grief and loss. Each section is preceded by lines included in her mother’s autopsy report, which initially feels a little chilling, but are really signs of acceptance; the cycle of grief is complete, the facts of her mother’s death are merely facts. Delphine Kelly was married to a TD and widowed at just 50 years of age. Rather than recede into the shadows, she embraced her new single status and, with her family practically reared, she developed a taste for travel and adventure – something that’s still not an easy option for a woman alone. Kelly observes her mother’s joie-de-vivre at a distance, the distance of time, but with huge affection and some real literary elegance. Grief memoirs can be mournful, but this one is not. It’s a celebration of a life well lived and a woman much missed by a daughter who knew and loved her.
Mint and Other Stories, Adrian Kenny, Lilliput, €16.95
This is an anthology of short stories, some loosely connected, all of them exquisite. Kenny is a member of Aosdána and while his output has not been prolific, it’s as if everything he does is gilded. His characters here are mostly old, or at least far from their first flush and they’re mostly on the margins, too, not necessarily of society but of their families, the families they came from and those they created. Old friends are looked on with mild disdain, new loves if they happen at all are slightly seedy, adult children are for the most part far away. And if there’s a thread that holds everything together it’s memory; the backbreaking burden of memory and regret that sits on those whose best years are behind them.
Kenny’s writing is deceptively simple, yet in master strokes he can outline a whole human life, from cradle to dotage, in a short, mystically powerful paragraph. He is strong on identity, and many characters, be they Irish in London or simply country mice that have settled in the city, feel neither part of one life nor the other. And there is no future in these stories, beautiful and elegant though they are. The entire anthology casts a cold eye on the past.
Uncharmed, Lucy Jane Wood, Macmillan, €15.99
This is a cosy autumnal fantasy novel for those who are partial to the fantasy genre. Annie is a witch who runs her own bakery in London and who injects a teeny bit of feelgood magic into everything she bakes. She’s also a perfectionist which, here at least, is far more of a failing than a virtue. She is asked by her coven to take on a young witch, the troubled Maeve, who needs mentoring if she is to use her magic for the good. And so Annie takes Maeve to a cottage in the woods for some training. But the landlord of the cottage, Hal, is not best pleased to find that his property is occupied by two witches. It’s all fluffy nonsense, of course, but it’s easy to see why novels such as this are flying off the shelves. The world is in turmoil, all its problems seem unfixable, who wouldn’t want to retreat to the fireside and get lost in some comforting, reassuring fairy tale for a few hours? This is Wood’s third fantasy novel and it will probably outsell her two previous bestsellers.
The Time Hop Coffee Shop, Phaedra Patrick, Head of Zeus, €14.50
This is another fantasy novel, where former coffee advertisement star for Maple Gold coffee, Greta Perks, is not living her best life. She’s having difficulty with her daughter, her mother has just died and she’s on a trial separation from her husband. A mysterious flyer appears, inviting her to the Time Hop Coffee Shop, where she can imbibe a ‘magical’ coffee that takes her right back to those Maple Gold advertisement days, back when she was happy. And solvent. But was everything really so perfect back then? A story about second chances and about carpe-ing the diem, it’s similar in style and content to the novels of Cecilia Ahern, so if you’re an Ahern fan, this will delight.
Footnotes
The Dingle Literary Festival is in Kerry on November 21-23 and it’s one of the year’s literary highlights. See dinglelit.ie for details.
The West Wicklow Winter Festival (November 14–16) offers a magical weekend of chamber music at the Manor House, Tulfarris. See westwicklowfestival.com for details.