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BOOK REVIEWS - A Sampling of the Latest Irish Books
By Tom Deignan
Recommended
 There was a rumor a few years back that the best-selling Irish storyteller Maeve Binchy was going to pack it in and retire. Well, that rumor itself can be retired, because Binchy is back with a new novel entitled Nights of Rain and Stars. Fans of previous Binchy hits such as Circle of Friends, Quentins and Scarlet Feathers won’t be disappointed.
Nights of Rain and Stars is set in a Greek island village, where a group of international travelers and local residents become bound by tragedy. The book revolves around Andreas, the aging owner of a watering hole who spends his days ruing the emigration of his son, who fled to the U.S. following a bitter argument. Then there is Elsa, a German journalist with both personal and professional secrets. Of course, there is also an Irish character, a nurse named Fiona, who is globetrotting with a lover who (according to many of her friends and family) is the wrong person for her. Another character from Ireland has also trekked to this island for true love, only to watch things fall apart quickly.
Through these and other characters with long, complicated pasts, Binchy weaves a tale that is propelled by a single awful event. A fire breaks out in the village leaving more than 20 people dead, and forces the Greek locals to tend to the tourists who believed they would uneventfully pass through this resort village. Inevitably, as always in Binchy, bonds are formed, tested, broken, and strengthened.
Sure, if you were never a fan of Maeve Binchy, Nights of Rain and Stars may come across as contrived, or even downright hokey. But clearly Binchy has a certain kind of appeal, and for her millions of fans, Nights of Rain and Stars is yet another page-turning charmer. ($25.95 / 304 pages / Dutton
Fiction
 Peter Sheridan has tackled film and theater, as has his famous brother Jim. Now Sheridan, who has written two autobiographical books about growing up in Dublin, has penned his first novel, entitled Every Inch of Her.
Sheridan’s protagonist is a Dublin woman named Philo, a tattooed mother of five with an abusive husband. Despite her many obstacles (alluding to her weight problem, Philo simply calls herself “pleasantly plump”), Philo refuses to become depressed, forcing herself to see some good in the world.
But when things get too rough for even Philo, she seeks refuge in a convent (she lies and says she has no children). Here Philo discovers a different world, one where she is not only safe, but where she can fully indulge her passion for food.
But her new duties eventually come into conflict with the life Philo is running from, forcing her to confront the harsh realities of her life. At times funny, yet also unsparing, Peter Sheridan has proven himself as skilled at writing as he is in theater and film. ($14 / 272 pages /Penguin Books)
An intriguing woman is also at the center of Regina McBride’s new novel The Marriage Bed, which is set in Dublin around the turn of the 20th century. In the novel, Deirdre O’Breen has fled her native Great Blasket Island after a terrible tragedy involving her parents. Now living in the big city, Deirdre meets a wealthy young man, and their struggles to reconcile their divergent backgrounds is reflected in Dublin’s own struggle to deal with its past as well as face the future. ($23 / 304 pages / Touchstone)
Another new novel about dislocated women is Becoming Finola by Suzanne Strempek Shea. Massachusetts natives Sophie and Gina decide on a whim to move to a remote Irish village. Gina quickly returns home, and Sophie not only stays, but finds herself intrigued by the locals’ recollections of another woman who seemed to disappear on a whim. Her name was Finola and she was a local shopkeeper and dispenser of wisdom. Now – partially against her will, partially not – it seems as if Sophie is, well, becoming Finola. Problems arise, however, when Sophie begins to comprehend the magnitude and demands of her new identity. ($13 / 336 pages/ Washington Square Press) Non
fiction
Famed New York Irish journalist Jimmy Breslin’s latest book is the not-so-subtly titled The Church That Forgot Christ. This is an angry look at the church that Breslin grew up loving, but now – he feels – has utterly lost its way. Given that provocative approach, this book clearly is not for everyone. Still, for all the times Breslin seems to be careening out of control with his anger, he just as often makes undeniably important arguments. It was the rash of church sex scandals in the U.S. (similar ones emerged in Ireland) that prompted Breslin to lose hope in the institutional church, if not many of the central tenets of the faith.
But The Church That Forgot Christ is not a mere screed. Breslin talks to many victims of sexual abuse, and the portraits he paints of people abused sexually as well as legally are compelling. Breslin also traveled across the U.S. and to Rome to question bishops and clergy members. The results are not exactly objective, but they do add up to a troubling indictment of the church hierarchy.
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