Red Sky in Morning

by Paul Lynch

Spring 1832: Donegal, north west Ireland. Coll Coyle wakes to a blood dawn and a day he does not want to face. The young father stands to lose everything on account of the cruel intentions of his landowner's heedless son. Although reluctant, Coll sets out to confront his trouble. And so begins his fall from the rain-soaked, cloud-swirling Eden, and a pursuit across the wild bog lands of Donegal. Behind him is John Faller - a man who has vowed to hunt Coll to the ends of the earth - in a pursuit that will stretch to an epic voyage across the Atlantic, and to greater tragedy in the new American frontier. Red Sky in Morning is a dark tale of oppression bathed in sparkling, unconstrained imagery. A compassionate and sensitive exploration of the merciless side of man and the indifference of nature, it is both a mesmerizing feat of imagination and a landmark piece of fiction.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Ireland, Irish Literature, Book Club, Literary Fiction, Historical

289 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Paul Lynch is the internationally-acclaimed, prize-winning author of five novels: PROPHET SONG, BEYOND THE SEA, GRACE, THE BLACK SNOW and RED SKY IN MORNING, and the winner of the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year 2018, among other prizes.

His debut novel RED SKY IN MORNING was published to critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic in 2013. It was a finalist for France’s Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger (Best Foreign Book Prize) and was nominated for the Prix du Premier Roman (First Novel Prize). In the US, it was an Amazon.com Book of the Month and was featured on NPR’s All Things Considered, where Lynch was hailed as “a lapidary young master”. It was a book of the year in The Irish Times, The Toronto Star, the Irish Independent and the Sunday Business Post.

THE BLACK SNOW (2014) was an Amazon.com Book of the Month. In France it won the French booksellers’ prize Prix Libr’à Nous for Best Foreign Novel and the inaugural Prix des Lecteurs Privat. It was nominated for the Prix Femina and the Prix du Roman Fnac (Fnac Novel Prize). It was hailed as “masterful” by The Sunday Times, “fierce and stunning” by The Toronto Star and featured on NPR’s All Things Considered where Alan Cheuse said that Lynch’s writing was found “somewhere between that of Nobel poet Seamus Heaney and Cormac McCarthy”.

GRACE was published in 2017 to massive international acclaim. The Washington Post called the book, “a moving work of lyrical and at times hallucinatory beauty… that reads like a hybrid of John Steinbeck’s ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ and Cormac McCarthy’s ‘The Road'”. It won the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year and was shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize and the William Saroyan International Prize. In France it was shortlisted for the Prix Jean Monnet for European Literature, among other prizes. It was a book of the year in the Guardian, the Irish Independent, Kirkus and Esquire, a Staff Pick at The Paris Review and an Editors’ Choice in the New York Times Book Review.

BEYOND THE SEA was published in September 2019 to wide critical acclaim in the UK, Ireland, Australia and the US. The Wall Street Journal called the book "mesmerising"; The Guardian called the book “frightening but beautiful”, while The Sunday Times said it had “echoes of Melville, Dostoyevsky and William Golding”. It was chosen as a book of the year in the Irish Independent by Sebastian Barry who called the book "masterly". In 2021, it was published to wide acclaim in France where it won the 2022 Prix Gens de Mers.

PROHET SONG was published to ravishing praise in August 2023 and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. John Boyne in The Sunday Independent called Prophet Song "entirely original". The Observer called the book "a crucial book for our current times... brilliant, haunting". The TLS called it "thunderously powerful". The Guardian called it "an urgent, important read". The Literary Review called the book "a masterly novel".

Paul Lynch was born in Limerick in 1977, grew up in Co Donegal, and lives in Dublin. He was previously the chief film critic of Ireland’s Sunday Tribune newspaper from 2007 to 2011, and wrote regularly for The Sunday Times on cinema. He is a full-time novelist.

Reviews

[Elyse Walters · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh brother....this book was not worth losing sleep over for me.
The words to sentences are 'very' carefully chosen -- the type of writing we generally call beautiful. I would read these sentences the 'first' time but only see 'words'. The second time around - (sometimes it took three repeats) - I'd get it: THE IMAGE ....awww, then I'd feel so proud of myself!
So I did this for awhile - this struggle - not being able to sleep anyway - reading each page of my kindle twice before moving forward....
Finally the story kicked it ( gotta tell ya, I was getting a little tired about caring what color the sky was)....I wanted to know the characters and 'get-to-the-juice'. ---BUT...truth be told....I don't like this style of writing: ( I kinda appreciate it - but it frustrated me too much) --and I didn't care for the flavor of juice once I tasted it either.

Here is a very typical- normal type of quote. I read it three times and I still don't find it REALLY beautiful- ( mostly annoying).
"Each day anew the sun climbed over the hill and where the earth was rent birdsong died each day. Days of cotton cloud trapped in the heat and then there were days of clear sky. The sun beat down hard and some men worked without straw hats and others without shirts and he watched the sun work their flesh, whipping skin till it cracked like the beds of rivers strangled".

50% into this book -- and there is STILL so much focus on the weather conditions and the SKY --I just don't care ---
BUT THINGS GOT WORSE: Violence galore! Lucky me!
- a woman was on her knees with her wrists tied to the brass SCREAMING - -- while a gun was fired through a man's neck (ah, but the bullet passed
'clean'. That should make me feel better....while I'm listening to the sound of a man gurgling before he dies.

2 stars. The story wasn't worth it enough for me to explore and examine a thousand ways to write about the SKY!

[karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

"People aren't people. They are animals, brutes, blind and stupid following endless needs they know not of what origin. And all the rest that we place on top to make us feel better is a delusion. The price of life is the burden of your own weight and some people are better off without it."

this is one of those books that is just STEWING in its own systems and standards of justice, where you are left at the end thinking - "woah, harsh." it is like george martin gleefully rubbing his hands together with "you have made bad choices,characters!" cormac mccarthy saying "life is hard, sorry!," the whole old testament of the bible musing "these punishments seem arbitrary, right?," thomas hardy chortling, "one mistake, and it will haunt you forever, suckas!!"

this is brutal stuff.

the short version of this is: man accidentally kills another man in ireland, and is forced to go on the run while the father of the deceased hunts him down across the ocean with an unquenchable thirst for revenge and preternatural tracking skills. along the way: much death.

the long version is more complicated.

for a first novel, this is a remarkable achievement. it lacks the economy of prose that someone like woodrell or mccarthy would employ in a similarly typical western-genre storyline about the lone man on the run from lone(ish) man across a dangerous landscape, but if there's one thing i have learned about the irish: they do tend to go on… it's not purple or anything, but it does take pleasure in its language. and that's a good thing; it's just less-usual for this kind of story, which is usually very stark and spare in its prose.

but i loved it. it got me every single time the distance between these two characters lessened with its perfectly-deployed tension and even though i asked myself several times "isn't the world a big place?? how does he keep FINDING him???" it never felt contrived, and the narrow escapes were completely realistic and none of that deus ex machina shit.

it's a short book with a high body count, and while it's a little cruel in its determination of who is "better off without" the burden of the weight of their lives, it is never ever boring.

a must-read for you grit-lit kids.

come to my blog!

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

"A sun rolled red over the low black hills clotting the sky with light. The shadows shied away to reveal fields of wheat and they walked in that dawn light sensing they had drawn near......."

There's far more than a bit of beauty here. That Donegal sun in 1832 touches on the shoulders of Coll Coyle. Determination lays a pathway as his feet plod in the direction of Hamilton's estate. He's to make this right once and for all. No one can toss his family from their home like tangled hay on the tines of a pitchfork.

Coll's anger meets face to face with Hamilton who sits haughtily on his fine Irish horse. Hamilton spews out words that befit the gutter. Anger turns into rage and Hamilton falls backwards and hits his head against the jagged stone wall. Death is instant, but its aftermath will carry on forever.

Coll's brother, Jim, convinces him not to return home to his family but to travel north without hesitation. But the stain of his crime trickles through the crevices of this countryside and finds its way back to hearth and home. John Fallon, Hamilton's father, is wracked with burning vengeance. His raised fist casts a shadow on all that Coll holds dear. And Fallon dogs a trail like the finest bloodhound in these parts.

Paul Lynch spreads the length and width of his story across the shores of Donegal to a destined harbor in America. Coll suffers through a hazardous voyage across the ocean to find work on the railroads near Philadelphia. In his pocket is the small white ribbon worn by his daughter. "He sleeved away his tears. The wee child without me. This is not what I wanted at all."

But the embers of pure hate light the way for Fallon to arrive in America himself. His spies have been readily paid. At no time can Coll breathe easily. He spots the evil man in a village reloading his gun and reholstering it. "Every desire a man has that is satisfied leads to a new one. It's an unstoppable thing, the boundlessness of it, desire always hovering beyond a man's grasp."

Red Sky in Morning begins with the intensity of the escape. The prose soon begins to lull you with its descriptive flavor of its language. Then suddenly you are jerked into short wisps of breath as Fallon unleashes his relentless terror. It reminds one of No Country For Old Men by Cormac McCarthy. The violence does mount here with a warning that eyes once open are soon forever shut. "But before she passed she told me that all you can do in this life is to learn to accept loss."

A well written novel compacted into 288 pages that speaks of love, intense suffering, and the sharpness of the denial of a fulfilled life. Certainly not for everyone, but certainly for those who appreciate the velocity of what drives the human spirit.

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Red Sky in Morning has rightfully earned comparisons to the terse, brutal writing of authors like Cormac McCarthy and Daniel Woodrell. This is a bleak story and a pervasive sense that all will not be well by the end hangs over every melancholy word. This is a book that I should have liked and why it didn't resonate with me is something I've been pondering for a few days.

Set in Ireland during the 1800's, the novel begins with the classic conflict between tenant and landowner--only this conflict ends in an accidental death that costs Coll Coyle not just his farm, but his family and his country. Fleeing from vengeance in the form of a foreman named Faller, Coll is forced to leave Ireland and sail to America, where brutal work and animosity against the Irish awaits. However, Faller is a single-minded hunter willing to pursue his quarry across the ocean and will not rest until Coll has paid for his crime.

Of course, the tale of a man trying to outrun the sins of his past and the weight of regret through a physical journey is not a new one. And I think that's part of the problem here. This is an oft told story and, to my mind, it's been compellingly told by other authors--McCarthy's No Country for Old Men and Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain come to mind. Red Sky in Morning never delves into the relationship between man and God, good and evil, sin and forgiveness with McCarthy's philosophical complexity, nor does it use the landscape as evocatively as Frazier does in revealing Inman's inner turmoil as the sinner hoping for salvation in a world gone to hell.

There is no doubt that Lynch can write beautifully, which is both a strength and weakness of the novel. While in Ireland, the harsh landscape bears silent witness to Coll's failings, refusing him shelter or succor from his sins. This idea of land as witness to the frailties and failings of man seems Hemingway-esque in a The Sun Also Rises sense; there's the feeling that, for all man's follies, only the earth abides. Lynch's depiction of this landscape is poetic, but begins to veer into a tedious purple prose before it mercifully shifts to the sea voyage, which picks up the pace as dialogue and plot begin to take the reins. I had also hoped that Ireland itself would be more present in the novel, but only a third of the book takes place in Ireland and, other than the Irish dialect and colloquialisms, the story could have easily taken place in any other European country in the 1800's.

Ultimately, though, my disappointment with the novel comes down to this: there is no one here to champion. None of the minor characters are likable and, while Coll is undoubtedly a victim in a system that has robbed him not just of his power, but of his humanity, he's also not a sympathetic character. Refusing to take any form of responsibility for his actions, putting those he loves at risk, and leaving his family behind (with only the occasional pang of regret or remorse; he goes chapters without thinking of his wife and children) make it difficult to connect with him. There is also the odd device of providing his wife with a very limited voice periodically throughout the novel. These chapters feel wedged into the narrative and serve only to reveal the source of the conflict that led to Coll's downfall. To read more about her life in the aftermath of Coll's desertion may have provided more of an emotional touchstone for the reader and salvaged something from the novel.

Cross posted at This Insignificant Cinder and at Shelf Inflicted

[Dem · Rating 3 out of 5]

Red Sky in Morning by Paul Lynch.

Set in 1832 in County Donegal in Ireland, Colly Coyle and his family are facing eviction from their home. Coll who is a poor labourer makes one last attempt to convince his landlord to save his family from eviction but events take a nasty turn and Coll finds himself on the run and in fear of his life.

There is no doubt this is an interesting read and an insightful look at a harsh and dark time in Irish history.
I found the prose a bit over the top at the beginning of the novel and first few chapters a bit tedious.. It took me awhile to get into the story. I liked the characters as they are dark and Paul Lynch certainly knows how to create a sense of time and place in his writing. His descriptions of the Irish landscape are excellent. This is not an uplifting read and in many parts it is quite brutal and not for the feint heated but it is well written.

This is a short novel at 229 pages and while I liked the book I did feel there was elements of the story that were not convincing.

I will certainly check out his next book as this was an interesting read.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a first novel by Lynch, and the accolades in front from writers including Sebastian Barry, Colm Toibin and Colum McCann (in oddly enlarged text) are deserved. This is a novel based on an historical event. I won't say more except that there are many writer-created details, which makes this more fiction than history. It is set in 1832 Donegal, and we are reminded Donegal is part of Ulster. Londonderry was a big port and the largest town around. The main character Coll Coyle lives on the Inishowen peninsula. It is not a spoiler, as the book cover reveals these details, Coyle gets into trouble and is forced to flee, eventually making his way to America.

Donegal of the early 19th century was a bleak place. Irish peasant tenants lived in deplorable circumstances and were at the mercy of their landlords. The landscape was unforgiving, and even in this time before the Great Famine in mid-century, it was sparsely populated. The Irish from Ulster who went to America during this period became known as Scotch Irish.

Coyle is relentlessly pursued by his landlord's agent, Faller, who leaves bodies in his wake. With him, Coyle carries the love of his family. His flight resembles at times Dante's Inferno, and the seven circles of hell, if I can be forgiven for the comparison.

Coyle is running at a time when there were few options for keeping in contact with family. As I read this, I thought of the refugees and immigrants the world over who disappear and whose famiies never learn their plight. The disruption of flight is still a reality today, and at the end of this novel you too will be reminded that immigrants and refugees of the past and today depend so much on the compassion of strangers.

[pierlapo quimby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ci giravo attorno da un po' a Paul Lynch, nome figo e bella faccia, il cui terzo romanzo Grace è stato appena pubblicato anche in Italia da 66th.
Questo è il suo primo, titolo azzeccato ed elegante veste editoriale (bravi i sixtysixers).
La prima pagina è d'impatto, niente da dire e da lì si prosegue con un gran ritmo e squarci descrittivi di potente fascino.
Ho avvertito qualche ingenuità da esordiente, su tutte l'evidente debito verso Cormac McCarthy; è come se avesse per tutto il romanzo giocato a rimpiattino con Meridiano di sangue, salvo però tirarsi indietro dal suo eccesso di figliodiputtanaggine, non so...
Ho letto in un'intervista che ha scritto il secondo Neve nera prima ancora che Cielo rosso fosse pubblicato, quindi immagino che sia proprio Grace l'opera su cui misurare la piega che ha preso la sua scrittura.
Conto di scoprirlo presto.

[M. Sarki · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://msarki.tumblr.com/post/6888621...

I am all for symbolism. I get it. But I prefer in my reading to receive it unconsciously rather than having to exercise an elitism in my understanding and deconstruction of the text.

In the beginning was the word and it was good. Very good. I immediately thought of Cormac McCarthy and believed perhaps we had a new great one in our midst. That made me glad. But I doubted Mr. Lynch could sustain the level of high prose he initiated the book with. I was correct in my assumptions. He is a very good writer. He tells a good story. But the language failed me in the middle third of the book and was not metaled enough to keep me engaged as his characters were basically just names. There was no development of character except for possibly The Mute. We know all the other bad guys. Cormac and others have already introduced us to their evil constitutions. But I could never connect with the main character, or his wife and family. I knew The Cutter better than his beneficiary. I thought a lot about this and simply what was missing for me was feeling. Very strange, but due to the empty composition there was nothing mournful about the horse taking a bullet in the neck. But last night on the evening news I cried a bit in merely hearing from our local celebrity goofballs about the innocent training pony being mauled to death in its stall by two pit bulls belonging to the family living next door. I did see a cute photo of the pony as I imagined the poor thing and those ugly big-headed bastard-beasts acting like the vicious curs they truly are no matter what other sensitive owners claim. I want that stupid family who owns those maniacal animals punished severely as in the manner of King Henry VIII and his drunken headman's public executions gone awry. You know, swiping six careless chops with the axe before finally cutting the now-minced and bloody necks free.

I admit I did somewhat enjoy reading the book, but never did I feel I could not put it down. Instead the book weighed heavy on me, and not because the mastery of the writing you might certainly hear about from others in review. But I kept waiting. And waiting is fine as long as there are just rewards. If this review is leaving the reader a bit confused and unsatisfied then welcome to the text of Red Sky in Morning. The book in rare moments matches the blurbs and hype, but for the most part it would have been better served with more labor in its revising and development. But Mr. Lynch will win his share of awards, and might even become popular, but it won't be because of me though he did prove better than most other offerings in this genre.

[Dan Howitt · Rating 1 out of 5]

I won this book through goodreads and was extremely excited for it. Unfortunately I wasn't a huge fan of it, although I can get why some people would enjoy the book. This book is a poor man's version of Cormac McCarthy, unfortunately the prose is not as good, and I found Lynch rambled at times. The deal breaker for me however was the poor characterization, I find it hard to be interested in books with bland characters and there is definitely a lack of depth here.

[Victor Borgeest · Rating 2 out of 5]

weird book hard to understand

[Giovanna Tomai · Rating 5 out of 5]

[Coyle continuò a sussurrargli parole dolci mentre il suo sangue inzuppava le carici e si infiltrava nella terra umida, i suoi occhi si facevano vitrei, pervasi dall’oscurità, e infine lasciò che il suo corpo si accasciasse.
Iniziò a tosarla col coltello, fece delle incisioni intorno agli zoccoli e infilò le dita tra la lana e la carne capovolgendo il vello. Le spezzò le zampe anteriori e gliele strappò, poi le torse il collo e glielo tagliò fino ai tendini che sembravano aggrappati ai resti di quella vita che un tempo l’aveva animata e che infine cedettero. Mise la lana per terra e le staccò la testa dal corpo. La carcassa ancora calda aveva un colore violaceo. Affondò la lama all’altezza dell’addome, estrasse le interiora e le depose sull’erba. Poi si chinò sui resti, li trascinò e li raccolse per gettarli nel fango, dietro a un cespuglio di erica sul quale poi si asciugò le mani.]

Che scrittura! Chapeau!
Non vedo l'ora di leggere il Booker 😍

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's a sadness to this book woven in history that will be sure to stay with you upon reading. Sentences poetic yet nonchalant in their telling. The story at base is one of pursuit but brought to life by the beauty of language and land. On every other page a dog has a cameo, you could tell the author has a soft spot for them. I thought I'd start with earlier reads from this author before embarking on his booker prize novel, Prophet Song. Clearly from early on you can see the talent of his writing.

[Luca Masera · Rating 4 out of 5]

Se ci si abbandona alla sospensione dell’incredulità (un uomo scappa in nave dall’Irlanda perché ha commesso un omicidio e si fa una nuova vita in America, un altro lo insegue per vendetta… e lo ritrova!), Cielo rosso al mattino è un romanzo avvincente sia dal punto di vista della storia, a metà tra thriller e romanzo di avventura, sia per la narrazione dei personaggi, uno in particolare davvero ben scritto.



Per certi versi, soprattutto quando descrive il male che si fa uomo, Paul Lynch mi ha ricordato McCarthy nonostante l'autore irlandese esca ovviamente ridimensionato dal paragone, e penso ad alcune fasi descrittive che fanno abbassare molto il ritmo delle vicende. Anche nello stile, che passa dall’essere molto evocativo in alcuni tratti all’essenziale nelle scene drammatiche, il rimando alla crudezza di McCharty è evidente pur non finendone per esserne plagio.



La cosa che più mi resta in positivo dopo la lettura, è l’ambientazione che spazia dalle piovose campagne irlandesi del 1860 a quell’America ancora in costruzione e in evoluzione che abbiamo potuto ammirare, ad esempio, nel capolavoro Gangs of New York: a unire sulla mappa questi due punti del mondo così distanti tra loro è sempre e solo il sottile filo rosso della malvagità umana.

[Iryna Chernyshova · Rating 5 out of 5]

Відчуття, що Кормак наш Маккарті спочатку завітав до Ірландії, а потім повернувся на батьківщину на кривавий свій меридіан. Книга невелика, напруга шалена, причому її не хочеться дочитувати, бо до всерачки лячно. Лячно, але цікаво.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

An advanced review copy was provided by The Book Depository in return for an honest review

"People aren't people. They are animals, brutes, blind and stupid following endless needs they know not of what origin. And all the rest that we place on top to make us feel better is a delusion. The price of life is the burden of your own weight and some people are better off without it.

I wasn't really sure what to make of this it at first. It sort of reminded me of The Playboy of the Western World by J.M Synge. It has this whole "is it often the polis do be callin here" feel. That is not meant as an insult in any type of way.

It shows how frivolous actions, or even the lack of them can have enormous consequences on life as we know it. A fatal accident leads to a typical game of cat and mouse that leads Coll from one hell ( Ireland in the 1800's) to another (The American frontier). Behind him every step of the way is the rugged, terminator like Faller.

"Everybody's done something, Faller said. It's just a case of who decides"

I found him to be the most interesting character in the books even though I found his ruthlessness a little one dimensional.


"The Fact Remains is that you're afraid of dying. If your heaven was paradise and the life ever after you'd be in a rush to get there"

I'm still not entirely sure of the motive behind his incessant trailing. I read through the first few pages again and couldn't see any obvious mention of family ties?

This isn't a novel that speeds along. I found it a little tedious at times but the imagery is wonderful and almost every piece of text is quotable in it's own right.

[a_reader · Rating 2 out of 5]

Everyone else has given this a higher rating so I suspect the problem is with me, but I had such a difficult time reading this. The author's prose was very convoluted and complex. Sometimes I read entire passages 3 or 4 times and I was still confused. The first 50 pages were almost unbearable. One would think that descriptions of the Irish countryside wouldn't be a puzzle to solve. But I kept reading to the end to find out the mystery. I always keep my eye out for new releases that are more gritty and raw but unfortunately this one did not work for me.

[Skip · Rating 2 out of 5]

To be fair, this should get 2.5 stars, but not 3. The book was beautifully written but grim and depressing. Reminded me a bit of Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meredian at times. A dirt poor Irishman accidentally kills a landowner, and then goes on the run from a killer seeking retribution, who leaves a trail of destruction in his wake.

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

His narrative voice is undoubtedly gorgeous, but I feel like I wasn’t very invested. The ending reminded me that this is a depressing and realistic story. I wished for a better (read: more brutal) end to the main villain (but did he die? I’m genuinely not sure?) Maybe just not a book for me.

[Valerie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Finished on a Saturday. What a slog.

[Allan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been aware of this novel for a while, after it was lauded on release a couple of years ago. Lynch has been feted as the next big thing in Irish literary circles, but some have accused him of overwriting, and this, combined with the fact that I didn't reckon that I'd enjoy the subject matter, meant that until I saw the book cheap on remainder, I hadn't purchased it. Indeed it was only on a dreary day reminiscent of what is described in the blurb that I decided to actually start the novel. I was very pleasantly surprised with what I found.


The book, set in 1832, is broken into three parts, the first set in the dark and dreary wilds of Donegal, moving to a voyage to the 'New World' on a coffin ship, drawing to a close in the area around Philadelphia. The main character, Coll Coyle, father to a little girl, with his wife heavily pregnant, has fallen foul of the son of the local landowner, and after an altercation, finds himself needing to run for his life, pursued by the ruthless John Faller.


Initially, I was blown away by the narrative of this novel, the writing in the first part about Donegal so evocative. I did think that the book didn't necessarily live up to what I thought it would be, but that's not taking away from what is a first class debut. 


The blurb compares Lynch's writing to both Cormac McCarthy and Daniel Woodrell (although given the latter's last few books, this isn't necessarily the compliment it once was), and I can definitely see where the comparison lies, particularly with McCarthy. Lynch writes about the landscape, particularly of his home country in a similarly vivid way, the dialogue of his characters is often similarly sparse, and the violence when it occurs is like with McCarthy's fiction, relentlessly bloody. I've no doubt that John Faller has his roots in No Country for Old Men. 


At the same time though, the novel isn't a 'McCarthy by numbers'-as someone who reads a lot of Irish fiction, instead I found the novel very original, and while it did fall away a little from my initial reaction, I've no doubt that Lynch, if he keeps up this writing form, will be a writer to watch, and will hopefully get the recognition he deserves, both nationally and internationally, in the years to come.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won a copy of "Red Sky in Morning" by Paul Lynch through the Goodreads Giveaway Contest. This is a beautiful piece of historical fiction with vivid scenery and landscapes of Ireland and Pennsylvania, the language lyrical in nature.

In 1832, Coll Coyle kills the son of his landowner in an accidental fit of rage. He and his family are being evicted. His attendant, John Faller, won't rest until Coyle is caught, and justice is served. Coyle is forced to leave his pregnant wife and daughter behind in Donegal, Ireland while he escapes. The chase leads the pair to the railroad work camps of Pennsylvania.

This is a slow-paced thriller, a lyrical novel that requires your undivided attention, to absorb the descriptive writing.

I would recommend this novel to anyone who likes historical fiction.

[Stephen Morrow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Utterly different and a very powerful novel. Paul Lynch writes with wonderfully inventive and emotive sentences.

Who knew you could put words in such rare order and conjure up these vivid pictures.

[Max Nemtsov · Rating 4 out of 5]

босховское странствие папы девочки по имени Благодать (тут ей в начале годика два) из следующего романа. повесть небольшая, но плотная и насыщенная. хоть у автора она и первая, он уже много чего тут умеет - и, главное, ему есть что и как сказать. историчность романа, чье действие происходит лет за 12 до Великого голода, т.е., надо думать, в самом конце 1820х, тоже довольно условна, в задачу автора явно не входило сочинять "исторический роман".

кстати, название не просто название, а довольно зловещее название - отсылает к известной народной примете у моряков. в таком виде фразы в тексте нигде нет, отчего намек на вскоре воспоследующий Великий голод работает еще действеннее

[Joy D · Rating 3 out of 5]

In 1830s Ireland, Coll Coyle and his family are about to be evicted. He accidentally kills the landlord and knows he will be accused of murder, so he flees. The dead man’s foreman becomes obsessed with finding Coll, even across the sea. This is a beautifully written tragedy, with a large dose of violence, brutality, and death. On the plus side, the poetic writing creates an atmospheric landscape. On the minus side, the motivations of the revenge-seeker are unclear, and the storyline is a bit too grim for me.

[Isabel · Rating 2 out of 5]

A disappointment after Prophet Song.
Starts out with landlord-tenant conflict in 1800s Donegal, thought I was going to love it. Lynch doesn't take it to any of the places I'd hoped - examination of the power struggle in colonial Ireland, what it means to be driven off your land, what it is like to be the wife left behind after your husband is forced to go on the run. Instead we get a mangled Western with men chasing each other around the world for what seems like no reason, with a few chapters from the wife to say nothing but to answer one question and which annoyed me more than anything (stop using female characters to only further the male characters narrative pls)
Devoid of any of the compelling characters to take me into the story, and detached as I was I couldn't help but roll my eyes at some of the painfully overwrought prose. Did I just ignore that in Prophet Song because I was enjoying the plot more? Or perhaps Lynch has just managed to get a grasp on the style that was showing some potential here.

[Marc-Antoine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just didn’t manage to get into this. I really wanted to as there is a good story there, but the writing style didn’t work for me.

[Betty · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my second of Lynch's novels. He is an astonishing and inventive writer of prose; I wish his novels had a little more hope in them though. This is a long tale of misery, and (spoiler alert) there is no happy ending, no glimmer of hope.

[Heather Keane · Rating 4 out of 5]

black 47 but written by a booker nominee

[Jacob Uwland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Goed opgeschreven door P. Lynch

[Rosalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

*bij nader inzien 3,5 ster