Ireland – …on the B.L.

An Irish Country Christmas by Patrick Taylor

December 23, 2018December 23, 2018 RaeAnna

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Worth A Read Yes
Length 657
Quick Review An Irish Country Christmas has all the trimmings for a long winter read to escape from the hustle and bustle of the holidays!

An Irish Country Christmas by Patrick Taylor combines Christmas spirit, historic setting, and the Irish countryside to provide a lovely escape from the hustle and bustle of present day yuletide. It’s a long way from my current situation. Another in the “series,” you don’t need to read the others to enjoy this one. Taylor gives enough back story along the way you’ll know who everyone is in the grand scheme of things.

Dr. Barry Laverty is spending his first Christmas in the fictional town of Ballybucklebo with his attending Dr. O’Reilly, the indomitable Mrs. Kinkaid, a flirty dog, and a slew of other familiar characters to the returning reader. Barry is ready for the weather and the holiday until he finds out his sweetheart, Patricia, won’t be coming home from university. A competing doctor is building a practice in one of the neighboring villages with some practices not necessarily supported by science or logic. As always, things are going wrong for the citizens of Ballybucklebo, and they call on their trusted doctors, Laverty and O’Reilly, to save their health and care for their souls.

I wouldn’t call An Irish Country Christmas a quick read because it is a lengthy book, but it is an easy read. The prose is lovely. Taylor is a doctor himself. The medical terms and treatments are accurate to the time and locale, but you don’t drown in ridiculous terminology. It’s a lovely picture of rural life in Ireland several decades ago. The characters are pleasant. With the exception of one, no one is unlikeable. It’s a great read for this time of year. A little action. A lot of heart. An ending you want to read by a cozy fire.

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Memorable Quotes
“The big Labrador still seemed obsessed with a desire to mate with Barry’s trouser leg at the slightest provocation.”

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Title: An Irish Country Christmas
Author: Patrick Taylor
Publisher: Forge
Copyright: 2009
ISBN: 9780765366856

Books

An Irish Country Doctor

March 17, 2018 RaeAnna

Read: Yes
Length: III
Quick Review: A sweet tale about the finding the beauty in a small town.

Patrick Taylor writes about Northern Ireland and doctors with authenticity because he’s a retired doctor from Northern Ireland.

An Irish Country Doctor is a sweet story. None of his writing feels trite or imaginative but grounded in reality, which is how I like my novels. Even though the town of Ballybucklebo is imagined, it is obvious Taylor has native experience with the region and people he’s inhabiting.

Ballybucklebo remains deeply rooted in their traditions and heritage. Doctor O’Reilly is the esteemed and trusted village doctor. It’s 1964, and the world is changing. O’Reilly brings young Doctor Barry Laverty into the fold as his assistant bringing with him new medicine and point of view. The town is inhabited by a group of highly eccentric yet totally lovable villagers. Barry is put off at first by O’Reilly’s unconventional treatments and rather bizarre medical practice in general. At a shocking pace, Barry is taken in by the community and begins to fall in love with the entire profession of General Practice in a small village.

The novel is full of Irish phrases and Taylor’s own unique word plays. It’s hard not to be drawn into his prose. His style is straightforward, but there are lots of descriptive bits. Normally, I am not a fan of too much descriptors, but Taylor is not excessive nor too flowery.

Ireland is a majority Catholic country, and was just as conservatively Catholic as you can imagine in the 1960’s. Taylor deals with issues that were prevalent during the time – and today, as well. The plot is thickened with touches of pregnancy out of wedlock, birth control pills, abortion, poverty, deadbeat dads, among other things. If the novel were any shorter, the abundance of hot button issues would have been a bit much; however at 429 pages set in a poor village, it’s appropriate. Taylor has touches of feminism as the books is riddled with strong female characters including a female civil engineer student. Even the aging Doctor O’Reilly is pro birth control, pro choice, and tells husbands to help their wives with the children.

The story is a sweet one allowing you to escape into a lovely small village of Northern Ireland. Every storyline wraps up with a nice, neat bow.

Memorable Quotes:
“Sometimes we doctors aren’t much better than a bunch of Druids.”

Title: An Irish Country Doctor
Author: Patrick Taylor
Publisher: Forge Books
Copyright: 2004
ISBN: 9780765368249

Books

A Week in Winter

December 18, 2017 RaeAnna

Read Yes
Length 464
Quick Review How one woman’s dream brought a group of strangers together while they struggle through their own difficult situations.

A Week in Winter was her last novel and published posthumously in 2012 after her death in the same year. Binchy has written a multitude of novels, but this is the first I have read. In my opinion, it’s a wonderful novel to end an already amazing literary career.

Binchy was Irish and wrote about her country in A Week in Winter. Chicky Starr is from a remote town, Stoneybridge, in west Ireland. After moving to New York City in her youth, she returns to Stoneybridge, where she turns an old house into a beautiful hotel, Stone House. The town believes her crazy, but a few devote their time and futures into the dream. The dream comes to fruition when a hodge-podge group of people stay during the opening week.

The book is divided into chapters focusing on individuals lives and the events which bring them to the house. The characters are flawed and looking for respite or wholeness or the hotel has simply happened upon them. The hotel becomes a beautifully silent and simultaneously powerful character supporting each character through their personal journeys. The characters come from all walks of life and several countries in Europe. Some lives intertwine with others in close or remote ways. Binchy does not strive to have her characters adored. Like people, she writes them with various characteristics, flaws, and, at times, no redeeming qualities.

This novel isn’t a Christmas story, but it is a winter story. The perfect companion for a chilly evening, a fire, and a mug of something warm, or if you live somewhere warm, it will make you crave a chilly winter.

Memorable Quotes
“And anyway, there’s more to life than just sex and kittens.”

Title: A Week in Winter
Author: Maeve Binchy
Publisher: Anchor Books (Random House)
Copyright: 2012
ISBN: 9780307475503