Title: Ireland: A Novel Author: Frank Delaney type of book: Fiction - Literary call number: Fic

This book is strong in character, story, language and setting.

Summary:
From the first story Ronan O'Mara hears in 1951, he becomes obsessed with history and finding the storyteller. He collects every story available from the traveling man, even going to the length of leaving college and going on his own journey all over Ireland to find him. Readers become immersed with Ronan in the oral tradition of Ireland and its lush, imaginative folklore. Subjects covered by the visiting storyteller include Newgrange, Battle of Boyne, Cromwell's defeat, Norman invasion, Viking invasion, Dublin 1916, St. Patrick, and the invention of poetry.

I would recommend this book!

Why?
There are great characters, great stories, and great wisdom about humanity in this engaging novel. The major theme of the book is that "always, always the story is the teller, and the teller is the story. The one joy that has kept me going through life has been the fact that stories unite us - Indeed, our story is finally all any of us owns . . . a story has only one master." (the storyteller, p.560)

Employee Initials: KS Review Date: April 2005

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