A Wee Bit of Celtic (2)

For those of you who prefer your Celtic stories in dramatic form rather than documentary, here's a brief addition to my previous entry with a few more book suggestions. *Note: With one exception, these are "general market" novels, not CBA books. There's some "language" and possibly scenes that might be offensive to some. That said, I stand by my opinion that they're great books and important reading for those interested in all things Irish.  

Famine by Liam O'Flaherty. A great historical novel about the Potato Famine of the 1840s--but it's much more. To quote William Plomer's copy on the back cover: "It is an indictment of tyranny and the callous misgovernment of a people treated as if they were in a state of armed insurrection instead of their being on the point of destruction by famine." A thoroughly Irish novel by a wonderfully talented Irish writer.  

Trinity by Leon Uris. I consider this Uris's magnum opus--yes, even more powerful than his Exodus. My copies are well-worn. One could question how a contemporary American writer could so accurately and sensitively portray Ireland's bloody and tragic struggle for freedom, but once you read Trinity, you realize that, although Uris wasn't Irish, Ireland's story was in the hands of a true Seanchai, a storyteller capable of bringing one of the most dramatic, sweeping eras of Irish history to life. There's no way to describe a novel of this quality--it simply defies description. 

Walter Macken's historical trilogy: Seek the Fair land, The Silent People, andThe Scorching Wind. Macken, a Galway native, wrote these classic novels in the 1950s, but they will never be old. The best recommendation I can give them is that they take you to the land, the towns, the countryside of which he writes and allow you to see it and experience it. You will mourn and love and rejoice through the characters, and even if you don't have a drop of Irish blood in you, you'll feel Irish after you read these three. 

The late Thomas Flanagan's trilogy: The Year of the French, The Tenants of Time, and The End of the Hunt. These big, colorful, masterfully written novels range from the failed uprising of 1748 through the 1916 Easter Rebellion and the emergence of the IRA. Flanagan told his stories with a dramatic and realistic mix of both historical and fictional characters, and he told them with genius and brilliance.

Oh--dare I mention a certain five-book series entitled  An Emerald Ballad  by yours truly?  

There are so many, many more. I'd especially love to go into more depth about novels by Irish writers, but no more time for now ...

P.S. After I published this, a friend emailed me that I really should have included another of my own efforts among these. Well ... why not? So here's a shameless plug for my own Song of Erin.

Enjoy!

BJ