Shane Connaughton

This is an engaging novel that takes place in County Cavan, Ireland, a landlocked rural area that borders with Northern Ireland, in the 1950s. A boy in his late teens leaves home after his mother dies because he cannot stand to live alone in the house with his father, who is the head of the local police and has an occasionally violent temper and frequently cutting tongue. The boy doesn't go far, however. He moves in with his friend, Prunty, and Prunty's mother. Oddly enough, I hadn't realized that the lead character (or his father, for that matter) is never given a name in the novel until I looked up a review of the book to try to find it. At any rate, Prunty is soon showing our young friend the ropes of getting along on his own, including smuggling goods from one side of the border to the other. Our man is, happily, well read and very observant about the beauties of the countryside. And it is that countryside, itself, that becomes an important character in the telling of this tale. The townsfolk on each side of the border mostly get along and interact on relatively friendly terms. The Troubles are mostly only hinted at, with the police's hunting of IRA operatives and the occasional Border House explosion taking place only on the story's periphery. But periphery or not, they add a tension to the storytelling, and memories of the Irish Civil War, and resulting resentments, are still alive within our man's father, the Sergeant. As the story moves along, we come to care more about the characters, and the tale becomes more engrossing. There's not a lot of action in this book, except in short spurts, but the language is often very good and the characters grew on me. If that sort of thing is your cup of tea, I can easily recommend this book.… (més)