Tara Flynn

by Geraldine O'Neill

It's the 1950s and for Tara Flynn, red-haired, bright and ambitious, Ballygrace House represents everything she hopes for - beautiful, elegant and a world away from the small village where she lives with her grandfather. But the wealthy Fitzgeralds who live at Ballygrace have little time for village girls, until Madeleine, their unstable, delicate daughter, meets Tara. Tara is everything Madeleine isn't, yet the two girls find themselves becoming firm friends. When Tara meets Gabriel, Madeleine's older brother, she becomes painfully aware of the differences between the Fitzgeralds and the Flynns. Without a wealthy family behind her, Tara will have to work her way to the life she dreams of. Then Tara finds herself with a heartbreaking decision to make, and must leave the world of Ballygrace behind her and flee to England ...

Genres: Fiction

592 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Preloved reader]

If you enjoy Lesley Pearse's writing you might enjoy this book,bought this book for a dollar expecting that I wouldn't have the gusto to even start it but once I have started I am all the way in finishing the book,it is very green gables core except Anne wasn't abused,it was a nice book about redemption, determination,family and dreams ✨though predictable you can still enjoy it it's an easy read even it is 584pages😅I would love to see this in T.V or as series it is something that you might binge from the episode to episode.Enjoyable especially as each character progresses, the author was able to give each character a proper ending though the main character's ending is a bit boring due to cliche but still a good read👍

[Daisydoo]

I couldn’t put this book down. The book had so many different threads to the story. It’s a good example of how the role has f women has changed over the past 70 years or so. Highly recommend. I cannot wait to start reading the next book!

[Nell Hamilton]

I really enjoyed this book. I was ready for a family saga. The lat chapter left me feeling I hadn't finished it so much as I had finished series 1, which I guess is right. Now to read on...

[Leona]

Book 1 in the Tara Flynn trilogy. An easy read but one which I enjoyed . I look forward to reading the others in the series.

[Honeypie]

This is the author's first novel. And it wasn't so bad. Though, not very good either. Sorry, I just have to compare with Samantha Sotto's Before Ever After and Karen Swan's Christmas at Tiffany's. They were the authors' first novels, as well.

Light read. But not exactly a chick literature. It definitely had more serious conflicts. And touchy topics. But not as controversial as the Coelho book I read last year. (Gosh, I forgot the title na. :|) But then again, it's set in the 1950s. People were most probably VERY conservative... and old-school. Hmm.. Traditional might be more apt. Hahaha!

It must have been overwhelming writing your first novel, because Geraldine must have stuffed all the possible conflicts in all 43 chapters (including the prologue). It's okay, because each character had his own story. BUT, the novel was titled Tara Flynn. It was only expected that the book would all be about her. But it wasn't. And not even told in the first person.

Another thing, there were too many characters.

Tara Flynn seems too much of a perfect girl to exist in real life. Haha!

And, I think the ending was rushed. One of my pet peeves is when everyone ends up happy. (Shet, sorry spoiler.) Because it's not always the case. Cynical much? Hahaha! (HPie, this is not your blog.)



Usual excerpts:

"We're well off, and we don't know it."

Tara Flynn had learned already that it was better to look forward with hope, than look back holding a grudge.

Instinctively she knew that if a man was worth having, then he was the one who would have to do all the running in the courtship.

[Margaret]

Tara Flynn by Geraldine O'Neill

It's the 1950s and for Tara Flynn, red-haired, bright and ambitious, Ballygrace House represents everything she hopes for - beautiful, elegant and a world away from the small village where she lives with her grandfather. But the wealthy Fitzgeralds who live at Ballygrace have little time for village girls, until Madeleine, their unstable, delicate daughter, meets Tara.

The author manages to bring 1940's Ireland to life transporting you back to a tiny room in a remote cottage, the food that they ate at the time like soda bread and cream poratoes with bacon.
A very enjoyable book.

[Tracy]

I would like to give this 3.5. Very enjoyable. Am looking forward to the next two books in the series. Hopefully they won't be a let down. This book was easy reading and descriptive enough that you could really see how the poor Irish lived and worked and the vast differences between then and the "gentry" but not so far that it got boring with too much detail. A few twists and turns thrown in as well to keep it interesting

[Amma]

This is a lovely book to take to an airport and read during long distance flights.

[Cara]

couldn't put it down!

[The Cats’ Mother]

This was enjoyable irish fiction for an easy weekend read. I would read the next books in the series but am not sure I'd pay money for them.

[Donna Martin]

What a briillent book

[Doreen Deegan]

NWhat a story

From the minute I open this book until I read the last page it was an amazing story you could lose yourself in ballygrace

[Linnea Anna]

Loved it.

[Bindee]

very easy reading book. good plot though. reminded me a bit of a Maeve Binchy novel.

[Stephanie]

Didnt really like the heroine, but saga was riveting enough for me to buy the sequels.