The pervading atmosphere of these short stories is melancholy of maybe a typically Irish kind, full of yearnings, disappointments, private secrets colouring a life-time. Each one is a gem and if I've made them sound depressing, in the end they are not (or not very!). Behind the melancholy is a deep understanding of small lives and what they are worth, written with loving insight in uncluttered, evocative prose. To be relished - they haunted me.
(Annabel Bedini - bwl 80 Spring 2016 ) |
