Book Review

Ireland seems to hold a fascination for many of us. A beautiful land with a tragic history, from whence many of our ancestors came -- it touches us in a way that few other countries do.

Ireland is Frank Delaney's first novel to be published in the United States, though he has written other books, including The Celts. He was born in Tipperary, Ireland, and lives now in Connecticut. He has created characters and fashioned a plot upon which he has strung a series of legends and accounts from Irish history.

Ronan is a boy of nine when he first meets the Storyteller. The Storyteller, widely known and revered, comes to Ronan's house one evening. He is warmly welcomed by Ronan's father and the neighbors, but soon asked to leave by Ronan's mother. Ronan, however, is thrilled by him and his stories, and is heartbroken when he leaves.

Ronan has a loving father and aunt, but he has learned to keep his distance from his mother, who treats him coldly. He is intelligent and studious, and soon comes to love Irish history as a group of stories. He is unable, however, to keep the Storyteller in his life, though he senses a connection with him. As he gets older, he tries to track the Storyteller down, and that search forms part of the plot of Ireland.

Meanwhile, the reader is treated to a number of Irish legends, tales, and history. They are told by the Storyteller and begin with the architect of New Grange, a real place shrouded in mystery. He is followed by King Conor of Ulster, St. Patrick, Brendan, and Finn McCool, all possibly real people, but fictionalized in legend.

Part imagination and part truth are tales of the making of the Book of Kells and how the Irish discovered poetry. Ronan begins to tell tales himself as he attends college and meets an influential history professor.

Then the reader learns factual stories about the Penal Laws, Jonathan Swift, and finally the Easter Rising of 1916, plus interesting tidbits like Ireland is the only country to have a musical instrument as its national symbol.

Some of the charm of Ireland is in the storytelling language Delaney uses, like "before swans learned to swim and before bears wore fur coats." The stories are fun (even educational), and we want to find out what happens to Ronan and if he ever finds the Storyteller.

Ireland, the novel, is available at the Mary Willis Library, a gift of the Friends of the Library.