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Death and Nightingales
It is 1883 and against the fearsome, unforgiving beauty of the Fermanagh landscape, the fate of Beth Winters unfolds.
Beth is determined to decide her own destiny but charmed by the roguish Liam Ward she seems doomed to repeat the tragic mistakes of her family’s past. Through the events of her twenty-fifth birthday, decades of pain and betrayal build to a devastating, deadly climax.
Beth is determined to decide her own destiny but charmed by the roguish Liam Ward she seems doomed to repeat the tragic mistakes of her family’s past. Through the events of her twenty-fifth birthday, decades of pain and betrayal build to a devastating, deadly climax.
240 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
164 people are currently reading
1700 people want to read
About the author
Eugene McCabe
21 books20 followersEugene McCabe was an Irish novelist, short story writer, playwright, and tv screenwriter.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 94 reviews
December 2, 2017
I read this book for the Leaving Cert and without a doubt, it's probably one of the worst things I've ever read. I have a personal vendetta against this book. I hate it. I have in-jokes with my friends about Death and Nightingales making fun of it. It's so bad. My teacher however, adored it, and thought Eugene McCabe was one of the best Irish writers ever, and this was one of the best Irish novels ever. If that's that case and this is one of his best works, I think my pre-teen sister is going to be the next James Joyce. She writes stories about pineapples, check her out.
My main issue is the characters and pacing of the novel, McCabe doesn't seem to have much idea of how to create interesting characters, you never see inside the heads of the characters, and therefore it's quite hard to really care about any of them. None of the characters are very likeable in my opinion, even the protagonist. Beth's problem of being pregnant outside marriage is... very common in historical fiction and barely elaborated on whatsoever, fundamentally her motivations are selfish, and her trust in Liam Ward (who's possibly the most obtusely foreshadowed villain I've ever seen, seriously McCabe, learn to foreshadow subtly) is absolutely baffling. The novel tries to present her as cunning and intelligent but at the climax of the novel she acts like more of a horror movie dumb blonde, except she's the stereotypical Irish redhead.
My other big issue with the climax of the novel is a really petty one but it's important to me, as a fashion history buff.
Beth Winters, who lives in the year 1883, and is a relatively wealthy woman, yet somehow, in the space of probably under thirty seconds removes her ENTIRE OUTFIT down to her underwear.
Just to get the VISIBLE elements of the outfit out of the way. In the 1880s, bustle skirts with "apron" skirts were fashionable. These were tied on separately to the actual main skirt. The skirt and bodice were separate pieces, and bodices usually had a lot of very small buttons, also they were generally fairly tight at the time. Then comes a corset cover (depending on the outfit, but they weren't uncommon), at least one petticoat, a bustle, which is to be fair, relatively easy to untie, but could be bulky and the big thing, a corset.
McCabe either implies that Beth goes entirely without a corset (which was worn by pretty much every woman at the time, it was the pre-20th century equivalent of a bra and most clothes outside bedclothes couldn't be worn without them, and she was travelling so it wouldn't make sense for her not to wear one), that Beth rips off her corset in SECONDS (which is flat out impossible unless she's built like the hulk, and would be very painful, or that she swims around and "arches her back" in a corset. simply BENDING in corsets could be awkward and uncomfortable, and yet Beth Winters is capable of doing gymnastics and swimming in them. The historical accuracy in general isn't amazing, Percy French wasn't actually very popular at the time (it was the late 1880s when he became prolific), yet there's an ENTIRE CHAPTER dedicated to a popular Percy French Concert, the lack of research irks me honestly, because this is information that can be found practically anywhere. It's on the Wikipedia page. This novel was presumably written in the late 80s to early 90s, but libraries definitely existed at the time, there's really no excuse.
Then there's Billy, who's just abhorrent and is confirmed to regularly sexually abuse Beth, but apparently it's okay because she's not TECHNICALLY his daughter and he's nice when he DOESN'T drink heavily (which he always does). His "guilt" seems performative and he seems to consistently pretend he did nothing to Beth and that she should forgive him for his actions.
The ending of the novel is bizarre, lazy, and pretty creepy to say the least. After assaulting his daughter with a whip and beating her to a pulp, Billy asks Beth for his hand in marriage. Apparently this is symbolic, but given how little led up to this moment, and how Billy really did nothing to even ATTEMPT to reconcile with Beth, who has every right to not forgive him and maybe finish him off too, since he did sexually assault her multiple times, yet inexplicably asks for her hand in marriage, this being the end of the novel. This may be supposed to be symbolic of unionists and nationalists reconciling but it's so bizarre, lazily written, and ham-fisted that it's more puzzling than anything. If you wanted to use that symbolism, it would have been much, much easier to do something else to show reconciliation, or actually foreshadow it so that it makes even the slightest bit of sense.
(But then again, the author seems to want to make Billy seem sympathetic, so I don't know. I certainly don't sympathize with him).
In general, the novel's writing is quite dry, there's very little emotion put into it, most scientific theses have more emotion in them than this. Again, I feel that the problem stems from McCabe's inability to get into the heads of his characters, he focuses on the external rather than the internal. One thing about this novel that I believe was done well was the imagery, you really do get a sense of the setting of the story and atmosphere and I appreciate that, however the plot and the characters still suffer, and that's the only thing that I can really applaud. Also as a note most characters barely got any physical description, which I felt somewhat odd given the detail in the imagery of Fermanagh, making it difficult to picture them.
The pacing of the story was absolutely horrendous, I feel the plot could have been condensed into a much shorter novel and made much more interesting. There were whole CHAPTERS of completely unnecessary scenes, like farm workers finding old butter in the ground, which advanced a grand total of nothing.
The novel was generally extremely slow and the only reason I didn't stop reading was because my grades depended on my understanding of this book (at least we did Shakespeare instead of that as the single text though). It was nearly halfway through the book before the plot really emerged, before that there were just scenes and scenes and scenes of... I don't even know how to describe them. They just felt like stuff. Nothing really happened.
The antagonist of the novel was met really late too, and before the reader even meets him they know he's bad news, because practically the only set up he's had is that he's not a good person and should be avoided and evicted, which doesn't make his villainy the least bit surprising. I honestly feel like this plot could have been done well if it was a novella instead of a full-length novel. Really, several chapters should have just been flat out removed from the final text. Despite not being very long, it feels like scenes last forever.
In general, I just really didn't like the book, a lot of the issues explored in it weren't presented very well or explored properly in my opinion, especially since it involved very sensitive issues like alcoholism, sexual abuse, unhealthy relationships, and physical abuse. I'd advise against reading this if you have bad experiences with any of these, as they seem to be thrown in and not dealt with very well at all. A lot of people apparently enjoy this book, I don't know why, but if you can convince me of something actually read-worthy about this book, I'll applaud you. If it's just the imagery, I'd rather read poetry, it takes up less of my time.
My main issue is the characters and pacing of the novel, McCabe doesn't seem to have much idea of how to create interesting characters, you never see inside the heads of the characters, and therefore it's quite hard to really care about any of them. None of the characters are very likeable in my opinion, even the protagonist. Beth's problem of being pregnant outside marriage is... very common in historical fiction and barely elaborated on whatsoever, fundamentally her motivations are selfish, and her trust in Liam Ward (who's possibly the most obtusely foreshadowed villain I've ever seen, seriously McCabe, learn to foreshadow subtly) is absolutely baffling. The novel tries to present her as cunning and intelligent but at the climax of the novel she acts like more of a horror movie dumb blonde, except she's the stereotypical Irish redhead.
My other big issue with the climax of the novel is a really petty one but it's important to me, as a fashion history buff.
Beth Winters, who lives in the year 1883, and is a relatively wealthy woman, yet somehow, in the space of probably under thirty seconds removes her ENTIRE OUTFIT down to her underwear.
Just to get the VISIBLE elements of the outfit out of the way. In the 1880s, bustle skirts with "apron" skirts were fashionable. These were tied on separately to the actual main skirt. The skirt and bodice were separate pieces, and bodices usually had a lot of very small buttons, also they were generally fairly tight at the time. Then comes a corset cover (depending on the outfit, but they weren't uncommon), at least one petticoat, a bustle, which is to be fair, relatively easy to untie, but could be bulky and the big thing, a corset.
McCabe either implies that Beth goes entirely without a corset (which was worn by pretty much every woman at the time, it was the pre-20th century equivalent of a bra and most clothes outside bedclothes couldn't be worn without them, and she was travelling so it wouldn't make sense for her not to wear one), that Beth rips off her corset in SECONDS (which is flat out impossible unless she's built like the hulk, and would be very painful, or that she swims around and "arches her back" in a corset. simply BENDING in corsets could be awkward and uncomfortable, and yet Beth Winters is capable of doing gymnastics and swimming in them. The historical accuracy in general isn't amazing, Percy French wasn't actually very popular at the time (it was the late 1880s when he became prolific), yet there's an ENTIRE CHAPTER dedicated to a popular Percy French Concert, the lack of research irks me honestly, because this is information that can be found practically anywhere. It's on the Wikipedia page. This novel was presumably written in the late 80s to early 90s, but libraries definitely existed at the time, there's really no excuse.
Then there's Billy, who's just abhorrent and is confirmed to regularly sexually abuse Beth, but apparently it's okay because she's not TECHNICALLY his daughter and he's nice when he DOESN'T drink heavily (which he always does). His "guilt" seems performative and he seems to consistently pretend he did nothing to Beth and that she should forgive him for his actions.
The ending of the novel is bizarre, lazy, and pretty creepy to say the least. After assaulting his daughter with a whip and beating her to a pulp, Billy asks Beth for his hand in marriage. Apparently this is symbolic, but given how little led up to this moment, and how Billy really did nothing to even ATTEMPT to reconcile with Beth, who has every right to not forgive him and maybe finish him off too, since he did sexually assault her multiple times, yet inexplicably asks for her hand in marriage, this being the end of the novel. This may be supposed to be symbolic of unionists and nationalists reconciling but it's so bizarre, lazily written, and ham-fisted that it's more puzzling than anything. If you wanted to use that symbolism, it would have been much, much easier to do something else to show reconciliation, or actually foreshadow it so that it makes even the slightest bit of sense.
(But then again, the author seems to want to make Billy seem sympathetic, so I don't know. I certainly don't sympathize with him).
In general, the novel's writing is quite dry, there's very little emotion put into it, most scientific theses have more emotion in them than this. Again, I feel that the problem stems from McCabe's inability to get into the heads of his characters, he focuses on the external rather than the internal. One thing about this novel that I believe was done well was the imagery, you really do get a sense of the setting of the story and atmosphere and I appreciate that, however the plot and the characters still suffer, and that's the only thing that I can really applaud. Also as a note most characters barely got any physical description, which I felt somewhat odd given the detail in the imagery of Fermanagh, making it difficult to picture them.
The pacing of the story was absolutely horrendous, I feel the plot could have been condensed into a much shorter novel and made much more interesting. There were whole CHAPTERS of completely unnecessary scenes, like farm workers finding old butter in the ground, which advanced a grand total of nothing.
The novel was generally extremely slow and the only reason I didn't stop reading was because my grades depended on my understanding of this book (at least we did Shakespeare instead of that as the single text though). It was nearly halfway through the book before the plot really emerged, before that there were just scenes and scenes and scenes of... I don't even know how to describe them. They just felt like stuff. Nothing really happened.
The antagonist of the novel was met really late too, and before the reader even meets him they know he's bad news, because practically the only set up he's had is that he's not a good person and should be avoided and evicted, which doesn't make his villainy the least bit surprising. I honestly feel like this plot could have been done well if it was a novella instead of a full-length novel. Really, several chapters should have just been flat out removed from the final text. Despite not being very long, it feels like scenes last forever.
In general, I just really didn't like the book, a lot of the issues explored in it weren't presented very well or explored properly in my opinion, especially since it involved very sensitive issues like alcoholism, sexual abuse, unhealthy relationships, and physical abuse. I'd advise against reading this if you have bad experiences with any of these, as they seem to be thrown in and not dealt with very well at all. A lot of people apparently enjoy this book, I don't know why, but if you can convince me of something actually read-worthy about this book, I'll applaud you. If it's just the imagery, I'd rather read poetry, it takes up less of my time.
June 19, 2022
Death and Nightingales, first published in 1992, is probably not that well known outside of Ireland (or inside it either for that matter). The author Eugene McCabe was more famous for his plays, and this is the only novel he ever wrote. However, it has been highly praised by the likes of Hilary Mantel and John Banville, and has been taught on the Irish secondary school syllabus of late.
The story is set in 1883 in the county of Fermanagh. Billy Winters is a wealthy Protestant landowner, living on a large farm with his daughter Beth. He learned that Beth was not his, shortly after he married her mother Catherine, who died tragically in an accident. Today is Beth's 25th birthday and tensions between herself and her father are threatening to spill over. What he doesn't know is that she has been seeing one his tenants: Liam Ward, a man of questionable repute. Rumour has it that Ward was somehow involved the killing of the British Viceroy in Dublin, an event that shocked the nation. Indeed, Billy has been visited by government agents in relation to Ward. But Beth has a secret plan to abscond with her beau, and get one over on her old man in the process.
The story is set against the growing agitation between Catholics and Protestants, when Charles Stewart Parnell was beginning to stir his countrymen in efforts to rise against their oppressors. Billy remarks that his people have been in this country have been in this country for over 300 years, and wonders if they will ever be accepted. Along with the political intrigue, there is genuine suspense, as we wonder if Beth's daring scheme will bear fruit. It all builds to an exciting, unpredictable climax. There's a lot going on here - it's a tale of love, revolution, terrorism and tragedy. My edition came with an introduction from Colm Tóibín, who declares it "a great novel... that is convincing, frightening and chilling" and I find it hard to disagree.
The story is set in 1883 in the county of Fermanagh. Billy Winters is a wealthy Protestant landowner, living on a large farm with his daughter Beth. He learned that Beth was not his, shortly after he married her mother Catherine, who died tragically in an accident. Today is Beth's 25th birthday and tensions between herself and her father are threatening to spill over. What he doesn't know is that she has been seeing one his tenants: Liam Ward, a man of questionable repute. Rumour has it that Ward was somehow involved the killing of the British Viceroy in Dublin, an event that shocked the nation. Indeed, Billy has been visited by government agents in relation to Ward. But Beth has a secret plan to abscond with her beau, and get one over on her old man in the process.
The story is set against the growing agitation between Catholics and Protestants, when Charles Stewart Parnell was beginning to stir his countrymen in efforts to rise against their oppressors. Billy remarks that his people have been in this country have been in this country for over 300 years, and wonders if they will ever be accepted. Along with the political intrigue, there is genuine suspense, as we wonder if Beth's daring scheme will bear fruit. It all builds to an exciting, unpredictable climax. There's a lot going on here - it's a tale of love, revolution, terrorism and tragedy. My edition came with an introduction from Colm Tóibín, who declares it "a great novel... that is convincing, frightening and chilling" and I find it hard to disagree.
October 16, 2018
I picked up this novel because 'IT'S SOON COMING TO BBC 2 AS A MAJOR DRAMA.' Coming from Fermanagh, where this novel is set, I found reading this novel an unusual experience. Set in a deeply tense period of Irish history, during the time of Parnell, it tells the story of Beth Winters, the step-daughter of Billy, a sectarian whiskey-swilling Protestant quarry-owner, who married her (also fairly sectarian) Catholic mother six or seven months before she was born, unbeknown to Billy, who understandably felt somewhat deceived by this event. Scandalous stuff in today's Northern Ireland, let alone in the 1850s.
Fast-forward twenty-five years and Beth is about to flee to America with Billy's gold and a dubious tenant from down the road. She is willing to do this because her step-father is sectarian (like almost everyone in the book) and he's also prone to inappropriate drunken behaviour.
I won't say too much more about this book because I might spoil it. It's a good read, the prose is gripping, interspersed with Irish and specifically West of Ulster terminology such as 'sheugh' and 'wet the tea'. For a non-Irish reader, I'd say a few phrases will need to be googled. The book's strength is its evoking of the bitterness of the Catholic-Protestant divide and the fact that land and inheritance play such a part in it. I meet the occasional British person who believes the conflict in Northern Ireland is all down to religion, as if thousands of people would resort to violence about rosary beads, transubstantiation and which prayer book churches should use. To understand the issues of today, we need to get to grips with the events of the 1800s and the way in which society was structured, with Protestant landowners, the Catholic Church and the British government all playing a part in repressing large parts of society. This book helps to address understanding of Ireland’s complex and painful past.
McCabe presents my home county in a recognisable, if somewhat gothic and morose way and I think that this book has great historical value. My only issue is that all the Fermanagh-men in it are basically scoundrels in some form, but perhaps I'm taking it too personally. The characters are possibly not as well formed as they could be, particularly the protagonist, Beth, who appears improbably naive and effortlessly cunning at different points in the book. Nevertheless, it’s an engaging read.
Fast-forward twenty-five years and Beth is about to flee to America with Billy's gold and a dubious tenant from down the road. She is willing to do this because her step-father is sectarian (like almost everyone in the book) and he's also prone to inappropriate drunken behaviour.
I won't say too much more about this book because I might spoil it. It's a good read, the prose is gripping, interspersed with Irish and specifically West of Ulster terminology such as 'sheugh' and 'wet the tea'. For a non-Irish reader, I'd say a few phrases will need to be googled. The book's strength is its evoking of the bitterness of the Catholic-Protestant divide and the fact that land and inheritance play such a part in it. I meet the occasional British person who believes the conflict in Northern Ireland is all down to religion, as if thousands of people would resort to violence about rosary beads, transubstantiation and which prayer book churches should use. To understand the issues of today, we need to get to grips with the events of the 1800s and the way in which society was structured, with Protestant landowners, the Catholic Church and the British government all playing a part in repressing large parts of society. This book helps to address understanding of Ireland’s complex and painful past.
McCabe presents my home county in a recognisable, if somewhat gothic and morose way and I think that this book has great historical value. My only issue is that all the Fermanagh-men in it are basically scoundrels in some form, but perhaps I'm taking it too personally. The characters are possibly not as well formed as they could be, particularly the protagonist, Beth, who appears improbably naive and effortlessly cunning at different points in the book. Nevertheless, it’s an engaging read.
December 17, 2018
Okay, I need a few moments to comprehend what I've read and how to recover from such a masterpiece. Albeit hard to follow at times, it was stunning and this cruel piece of art that had me crying. I do understand why some people didn't like the book much, but that's fine too as books are designed for conflicting opinions where readers can come together and discuss what they liked or disliked about a novel.
Now on to the TV series!
Now on to the TV series!
June 22, 2018
Want to read a book about a young woman written by a man who has no idea how to create a female character?
Ever feel like a book doesn’t have enough foreshadowing and you want the story to beat you over the head with its “surprise” reveal?
If so, this book is for you!
And the ending? It’s totally cool that the main character’s surrogate father has molested her since childhood because, hey, he was a big enough man to forgive her for trying to steal his gold.
Do better, male authors. Do much better.
Ever feel like a book doesn’t have enough foreshadowing and you want the story to beat you over the head with its “surprise” reveal?
If so, this book is for you!
And the ending? It’s totally cool that the main character’s surrogate father has molested her since childhood because, hey, he was a big enough man to forgive her for trying to steal his gold.
Do better, male authors. Do much better.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 1, 2021
I hadn't heard of this before, but it got on my radar when I saw that a miniseries version was coming. It felt like an Irish Hardy novel--a focus on the natural world, with the poor and the striving, concerned with issues of class and gender, and where you feel like something terrible is just about to happen from the first page--and I am one of those people who loves Hardy so means this as a compliment.
For other American readers I have a recommendation. I waited until I was more than halfway through this to do a little Googling about the period (1880's Ireland) and I wish I'd done it earlier. I am pretty sure I lost some of the nuance in the political, class, and religious divisions of the time. There is much more detail here than Catholic vs. Protestant, England vs. Ireland, and Tenant vs. Landowner, and a lot of it refers to specific people and events. You don't need a deep knowledge, but I'd recommend you take a look at the Wikipedia pages for Charles Stewart Parnell and the Irish Republican Brotherhood. (The one thing I still struggled with was remembering who was Catholic and who was Protestant, I realized after some time that I wasn't keeping them straight when I remembered that the Church of England uses a lot of the same titles as the Catholic Church so I couldn't just assume a "Bishop" was a Catholic. Oops.) I usually tell readers to come to books without any pre-reading and I think this may be the first time I've made this kind of recommendation, but just a minimal skim will make a big difference.
I can see why this was adapted, it's a book where only a few things happen, so you can adapt it quite faithfully without having to trim much. And the themes, as you can probably guess from the previous paragraph, are big ones. Ireland is only a few years away from a famine that escalated existing tensions. It is a time where it seems like everyone is divided, and yet the people divided against one another are in the same communities and sometimes even the same household.
Beth is the center of our story. She is planning to leave her home the very next day and slowly we learn the why and the how. Her mother is dead, and her father Billy veers violently from loving her to hating her, resentful that she isn't his child but loving the echo of her mother in her. Beth's mother was Protestant and Billy is Catholic, and now Billy runs their businesses and serves as a landlord to several tenant farms. This is a story where no character is fully good or fully bad, they are all complex and McCabe is very good at letting you see how during these times perhaps anyone was capable of anything.
This reads like so-called "classic" literature and yet I sped through it and while I would occasionally have to reorient myself a bit (mostly my own fault, as I took a few days off in the middle), I wouldn't call it a difficult read.
Content warnings for domestic violence and child molestation, farm animals are killed and otherwise meet with harm, some ableism consistent with the time and place.
For other American readers I have a recommendation. I waited until I was more than halfway through this to do a little Googling about the period (1880's Ireland) and I wish I'd done it earlier. I am pretty sure I lost some of the nuance in the political, class, and religious divisions of the time. There is much more detail here than Catholic vs. Protestant, England vs. Ireland, and Tenant vs. Landowner, and a lot of it refers to specific people and events. You don't need a deep knowledge, but I'd recommend you take a look at the Wikipedia pages for Charles Stewart Parnell and the Irish Republican Brotherhood. (The one thing I still struggled with was remembering who was Catholic and who was Protestant, I realized after some time that I wasn't keeping them straight when I remembered that the Church of England uses a lot of the same titles as the Catholic Church so I couldn't just assume a "Bishop" was a Catholic. Oops.) I usually tell readers to come to books without any pre-reading and I think this may be the first time I've made this kind of recommendation, but just a minimal skim will make a big difference.
I can see why this was adapted, it's a book where only a few things happen, so you can adapt it quite faithfully without having to trim much. And the themes, as you can probably guess from the previous paragraph, are big ones. Ireland is only a few years away from a famine that escalated existing tensions. It is a time where it seems like everyone is divided, and yet the people divided against one another are in the same communities and sometimes even the same household.
Beth is the center of our story. She is planning to leave her home the very next day and slowly we learn the why and the how. Her mother is dead, and her father Billy veers violently from loving her to hating her, resentful that she isn't his child but loving the echo of her mother in her. Beth's mother was Protestant and Billy is Catholic, and now Billy runs their businesses and serves as a landlord to several tenant farms. This is a story where no character is fully good or fully bad, they are all complex and McCabe is very good at letting you see how during these times perhaps anyone was capable of anything.
This reads like so-called "classic" literature and yet I sped through it and while I would occasionally have to reorient myself a bit (mostly my own fault, as I took a few days off in the middle), I wouldn't call it a difficult read.
Content warnings for domestic violence and child molestation, farm animals are killed and otherwise meet with harm, some ableism consistent with the time and place.
June 21, 2021
An atmospheric, moody, dark Irish tale. In love with it ever since I first read it.
April 13, 2019
This is an incredibly powerful novel, both haunting and bleak, and I loved it. The writing is dark and gripping, and you are swiftly drawn in to the emotionally intense and disturbing world of the heroine, Beth Winters. It's a shocking and poignant story, with a savage and beautifully written ending. I highly recommend it.
May 29, 2008
Having had my fill of Ulster novels recently, I came across this title by an Irish author previously unknown to me.
Set in a time hopelessly prior to Bloody Sunday, McCabe's novel is beautifully structured, rhythmically perfect, and perfect in its rendition of the lush countryside of Fermanaugh. Elizabeth's character is deep, complex, and well worth the effort. Highly recommended. NJAIN. (Not Just Another Irish Novel).
Set in a time hopelessly prior to Bloody Sunday, McCabe's novel is beautifully structured, rhythmically perfect, and perfect in its rendition of the lush countryside of Fermanaugh. Elizabeth's character is deep, complex, and well worth the effort. Highly recommended. NJAIN. (Not Just Another Irish Novel).
February 5, 2021
Setting: Fermanagh, Ireland; 1883. Beth Winters is at the end of her tether following the death of her mother and the unwelcome attentions of her stepfather. She falls for, and starts a relationship with, one of her stepfather's tenants, Liam Ward - a renowned bad boy and suspected Fenian, agitating for a free Ireland. The couple hatch a plot for Beth to drug her stepfather one night and then steal his gold so they could build their own life away from Fermanagh. But Beth makes a shocking discovery on the night of their intended elopement which forces her to re-evaluate everything....
This was wonderful - Irish writing at its best but only discovered thanks to a recommendation in a Guardian interview with Colm Toibin (one of my favourite Irish authors). Strangely, parts of the story seemed oddly familiar and a bit of research led me to realise that I had watched a TV adaptation of the book in 2018, not that this detracted from my enjoyment of the book version - far from it. 9/10.
This was wonderful - Irish writing at its best but only discovered thanks to a recommendation in a Guardian interview with Colm Toibin (one of my favourite Irish authors). Strangely, parts of the story seemed oddly familiar and a bit of research led me to realise that I had watched a TV adaptation of the book in 2018, not that this detracted from my enjoyment of the book version - far from it. 9/10.
September 30, 2020
Very evocative story of the cultural and political divisions in rural 19th century Ireland and the harshness of life, living and love amidst the beauty of the Fermanagh countryside.
July 21, 2022
A deeply moving story of Ireland's countrysite in late nineteen century. The author, sometimes called the Irish Thomas Hardy, weaves his story of love and betrayal in the fearsome beauty of the Fermanagh landscape. All action takes place in one day and reveals the events of the twenty-fifth birthday of the main character Beth, which build to devastating climax. The author also highlights the tensions between the catholic and protestant communities in the rural Ireland. One of the books that could be read many times always to discover something new there.
August 31, 2024
Read in one gulp .
A perfect balance between character , plot and setting with the latter the biggest presence .
We're in the Ulster wetlands where the peat swallows the past and the present , the lakes and the sour reedy hinterland offer meagre pickings . Parnell is kicking up a storm ,bothered been an assassination in Dublin and the uneasy truce between landlord and tennant simmers in an uneasy suspicion . Betrayal and simmering resentment colour the air .
The land is empty , the horrors of the famine are living memory and the exodus of those that can leave drains homes .Your faith , an an unasked for birthmark , determines your place , your loyalties and Elizabeth Winter is raised a Catholic , her dead mother's faith , in the household of her stepfather , a nominal Protestant whose ancestors colonized the land of her proud mother in centuries past . There's a rogue of a lover , an Edenic island , a mad tramp and a crazy plot . There's love , violence and the inescapable weight of the past .
Over a single day all will be thrown into the air and the tangled knot of history remains stubbornly unravelled to taunt the coming generations .
A perfect balance between character , plot and setting with the latter the biggest presence .
We're in the Ulster wetlands where the peat swallows the past and the present , the lakes and the sour reedy hinterland offer meagre pickings . Parnell is kicking up a storm ,bothered been an assassination in Dublin and the uneasy truce between landlord and tennant simmers in an uneasy suspicion . Betrayal and simmering resentment colour the air .
The land is empty , the horrors of the famine are living memory and the exodus of those that can leave drains homes .Your faith , an an unasked for birthmark , determines your place , your loyalties and Elizabeth Winter is raised a Catholic , her dead mother's faith , in the household of her stepfather , a nominal Protestant whose ancestors colonized the land of her proud mother in centuries past . There's a rogue of a lover , an Edenic island , a mad tramp and a crazy plot . There's love , violence and the inescapable weight of the past .
Over a single day all will be thrown into the air and the tangled knot of history remains stubbornly unravelled to taunt the coming generations .
January 1, 2019
A simple story set in Fermanagh in 1883. A Catholic girl living with her widowed, Protestant step-father falls in love with a poor tenant farmer. The descriptions of the rural landscape, the people and the daily life of the times are beautiful and the author’s masterly handling of the plot creates a tension which builds through the story, culminating in a dramatic climax.
August 30, 2019
4.25. Really, really good. It takes some time to grasp the setting and know the characters and then the story begins to come alive very slowly and is so intense and full of feeling. Expertly written and I can also highly recommend the BBC2 adaption. Very well done.
September 17, 2020
This is one of the most compelling books I have ever read. It is full of passion, both love and hatred. The writing is powerfully descriptive. I could see, taste and smell the countryside, the lakes and bog land, the bottled sweet tea and bacon sandwiches, the meadow flowers and the decaying vegetation. Death and Nightingales is set in Fermanagh, in Fenian times in the late 1800's. Tenant farmers plot against their Anglo Saxon landlords and informers reveal secrets to intelligence agents from Dublin Castle. There is romance and treachery, violence and beauty. The story is based around a farmyard and small manor house. Beth, the female protagonist is planning her escape from her domineering, drunken step father but will she find peace with her lover? Will they succeed in leaving this beautiful land to begin a new life of uncertainty abroad or is there a plan to end her dream? Prejudice abounds between Protestants and Catholics, the rich privileged educated class and the poor ignorant servants. The story if frighteningly powerful, brutal and captivating. I don't have enough words to adequately describe the effect it had on me. Unforgettable.
Eugene McCabe died recently and that is what lead me to read this book. I will certainly read more of his work.
Eugene McCabe died recently and that is what lead me to read this book. I will certainly read more of his work.
January 28, 2009
This is a fine novel and worth a read. It was a Christmas present from Mam. I had an idea that Eugene McCabe was a dark playwright but I think I was mixing him up with Pat McCabe. This might be his only novel but he has some short stories.
There's a kind of unevenness in it, maybe? It opens with a very difficult and very impressive few pages, but then loosens up into something more smooth but a bit less forehead-slapping. Perhaps I just got used to his style.
Interesting to get a story about both Protestant landowners and Catholic employees, without particular bias towards either, especially at this key historical time (Parnell making shapes, etc). The story is a traditional dramatic setpiece, there's a good air of mystery and darkness about the whole thing. It's very possible I'm missing some broader metaphor for land-ownership or political turmoil in 19th century Ireland but there's not much information about it online.
Update: Whoa. Just found this thing where he tells that it's based, very largely, on a true story. Spoilers, of course. The whole thing is, apparently, a foreshadow of future political turmoil. Of course.
There's a kind of unevenness in it, maybe? It opens with a very difficult and very impressive few pages, but then loosens up into something more smooth but a bit less forehead-slapping. Perhaps I just got used to his style.
Interesting to get a story about both Protestant landowners and Catholic employees, without particular bias towards either, especially at this key historical time (Parnell making shapes, etc). The story is a traditional dramatic setpiece, there's a good air of mystery and darkness about the whole thing. It's very possible I'm missing some broader metaphor for land-ownership or political turmoil in 19th century Ireland but there's not much information about it online.
Update: Whoa. Just found this thing where he tells that it's based, very largely, on a true story. Spoilers, of course. The whole thing is, apparently, a foreshadow of future political turmoil. Of course.
September 4, 2018
No real depth
Can't understand what Colm Tobin finds so wonderful about this book. It's a decent enough tale but does not add much to one's understanding of the human condition. Having said this, it is entertaining and perhaps that is all a decent story needs to be.
Can't understand what Colm Tobin finds so wonderful about this book. It's a decent enough tale but does not add much to one's understanding of the human condition. Having said this, it is entertaining and perhaps that is all a decent story needs to be.
February 13, 2014
I've read this twice, and was blown away both times.
February 16, 2018
"How extraordinarily beautiful the world could be and all the creatures in it, excepting mankind."
For better or worse, I can see why this is on the Leaving Certificate course.
"Death and Nightingales" is... well... um... well, it's a book, that much is for sure. The story unfolds over one day and one night in 1883, the birthday of Miss Beth Winters, which also happens to be the day upon which she has planned to elope with her lover. She hopes to escape great familial tensions, a house fraught with tragic memories, and a community that is steadily tearing itself apart. Also there are questions of religion, inheritance and pregnancy. And a little bit of murder.
Generally, this book's main strength lies in its humanisation of characters. Eugene McCabe persuades us to empathise with characters both major and minor, good and evil. There are some particularly nice turns of dialogue which give us affecting insights into the mindsets of characters we may have presumed to hate at first; often I found my opinion of certain individuals varying back and forth across the ethical scale throughout the novel. One key character that McCabe seems to have neglected to humanise, however, is Beth Winters herself. It's kind of tricky then when this woman is apparently the protagonist, or at least the prime focus of the plot. Once the action picks up in the second half of the novel, one finds it somewhat difficult to care.
My lasting memory of this book is the amount of potential it had. McCabe has picked an extraordinarily tumultuous time in Irish history. He sets up a number of ideas that could make for a very philosophically-charged work, but unfortunately he does little more than scratch the surface of each of them. One outstanding chapter - 11, I believe - features a controversial encounter with Percy French (a real, celebrated, Irish comic songwriter), but by the end we come to see that this chapter actually exists in isolation, while the direction the plot ultimately takes is not as interesting as what could have been. I recall Colm Tóibín praising the book for "prose of bleak, unadorned beauty"; in fairness he nearly hit the nail on the head, if he was trying to convey how depressing and - even worse - dull, the style is. McCabe sparkles in dialogue. But that's sort of it.
This book does seem like something to be studied by students. It is fairly straightforward prose-wise, and suitably confused theme-wise, so maybe that would make for a few interesting essays. It is unlikely to be something that one would read voluntarily, and if one does, it is unlikely to be rewarding. It's a good book. Nothing more to say, really.
For better or worse, I can see why this is on the Leaving Certificate course.
"Death and Nightingales" is... well... um... well, it's a book, that much is for sure. The story unfolds over one day and one night in 1883, the birthday of Miss Beth Winters, which also happens to be the day upon which she has planned to elope with her lover. She hopes to escape great familial tensions, a house fraught with tragic memories, and a community that is steadily tearing itself apart. Also there are questions of religion, inheritance and pregnancy. And a little bit of murder.
Generally, this book's main strength lies in its humanisation of characters. Eugene McCabe persuades us to empathise with characters both major and minor, good and evil. There are some particularly nice turns of dialogue which give us affecting insights into the mindsets of characters we may have presumed to hate at first; often I found my opinion of certain individuals varying back and forth across the ethical scale throughout the novel. One key character that McCabe seems to have neglected to humanise, however, is Beth Winters herself. It's kind of tricky then when this woman is apparently the protagonist, or at least the prime focus of the plot. Once the action picks up in the second half of the novel, one finds it somewhat difficult to care.
My lasting memory of this book is the amount of potential it had. McCabe has picked an extraordinarily tumultuous time in Irish history. He sets up a number of ideas that could make for a very philosophically-charged work, but unfortunately he does little more than scratch the surface of each of them. One outstanding chapter - 11, I believe - features a controversial encounter with Percy French (a real, celebrated, Irish comic songwriter), but by the end we come to see that this chapter actually exists in isolation, while the direction the plot ultimately takes is not as interesting as what could have been. I recall Colm Tóibín praising the book for "prose of bleak, unadorned beauty"; in fairness he nearly hit the nail on the head, if he was trying to convey how depressing and - even worse - dull, the style is. McCabe sparkles in dialogue. But that's sort of it.
This book does seem like something to be studied by students. It is fairly straightforward prose-wise, and suitably confused theme-wise, so maybe that would make for a few interesting essays. It is unlikely to be something that one would read voluntarily, and if one does, it is unlikely to be rewarding. It's a good book. Nothing more to say, really.
December 12, 2018
I downloaded this book to my Kindle in order to read it before watching the BBC2 drama that is based on it and which I recorded. The film versions can sometimes be difficult to follow not least because the sound on modern productions can be seriously distorted. Or maybe I am just going deaf. On this occasion it certainly worked for me.
But I enjoyed the book because I enjoy good descriptive writing. I suppose my perspective, as a retired physician enjoying catching up on the recreational reading he has missed out on over the years, is different from that, say, of a Leaving Cert or 'A' Level student. I daresay we oldies are less preoccupied with the tendency to adhere to the demands of political correctness, gender politics or whatever and look for other things when searching for beauty in prose and the bringing to life of inspirational landscapes and characters.
Plenty of flawed characters here, and some seriously unpleasant ones as well. But aren't we all flawed? I guess we are meant to sympathise with Beth, but she is one tough cookie and certainly no angel. Her final dealing with Liam would have ensured her demise at the end of a rope were she to be found out. But what is every one of us not capable of if driven to it? Beth certainly had reason enough to resort to extremes as a consequence of her treatment as an adult, a child and indeed even in the time before she was born.
But I enjoyed the book because I enjoy good descriptive writing. I suppose my perspective, as a retired physician enjoying catching up on the recreational reading he has missed out on over the years, is different from that, say, of a Leaving Cert or 'A' Level student. I daresay we oldies are less preoccupied with the tendency to adhere to the demands of political correctness, gender politics or whatever and look for other things when searching for beauty in prose and the bringing to life of inspirational landscapes and characters.
Plenty of flawed characters here, and some seriously unpleasant ones as well. But aren't we all flawed? I guess we are meant to sympathise with Beth, but she is one tough cookie and certainly no angel. Her final dealing with Liam would have ensured her demise at the end of a rope were she to be found out. But what is every one of us not capable of if driven to it? Beth certainly had reason enough to resort to extremes as a consequence of her treatment as an adult, a child and indeed even in the time before she was born.
August 3, 2020
I had never heard of this book or this author before, but after seeing it advertised on the Vintage books Instagram stories, I decided to give it a go. Especially as it’s a book set in Ireland, which seems to be my favourite kind of book these days.
The prose is very poetic, and very lyrical. And the story does flow along quite well, with moments that make you wonder what the hell some of the characters are thinking and real moments of surprise as well. But at the same time, there are parts of the book which were a little harder to follow. Where sometimes I wasn’t quite sure of whose perspective we were looking from now.
I did enjoy the political commentary of the Protestant landowners in Ireland and their butting up against the Catholic natives, and I could almost see where Liam Ward was coming from. I especially enjoyed the moment Jim Donnelly asks Billy how long it will take before he feels like a native, as the Protestants had been there for three hundred years at that point.
But all in all, it was an enjoyable read and I am glad that I read it. Especially as it was a bargain to download.
The prose is very poetic, and very lyrical. And the story does flow along quite well, with moments that make you wonder what the hell some of the characters are thinking and real moments of surprise as well. But at the same time, there are parts of the book which were a little harder to follow. Where sometimes I wasn’t quite sure of whose perspective we were looking from now.
I did enjoy the political commentary of the Protestant landowners in Ireland and their butting up against the Catholic natives, and I could almost see where Liam Ward was coming from. I especially enjoyed the moment Jim Donnelly asks Billy how long it will take before he feels like a native, as the Protestants had been there for three hundred years at that point.
But all in all, it was an enjoyable read and I am glad that I read it. Especially as it was a bargain to download.
September 13, 2022
A bleak and troubled narrative set on the 25th birthday of motherless Beth Winters in 1883.
Living with her wealthy, violent and unpredictable sectarian stepfather Billy on his farm in County Fermanagh, a skilled and strong housekeeper and farm worker, she is a survivor despite being surrounded by drinkers, bad tempers and lechery.
Her plan to elope with lover Liam Ward, suspected of colluding with the Phoenix Park murderers (1882) of the English Lords Cavendish and Burke in Dublin, is another episode of betrayal in her meagre existence, but does not destroy her spirit.
Descriptions of the weather, the landscape, the smells, bring a real beauty to the story set against a whole world of mistrust…the Catholic/Protestant divide in never far below the surface of the events. And Charles Stewart Parnell is a powerful force in their lives.
Living with her wealthy, violent and unpredictable sectarian stepfather Billy on his farm in County Fermanagh, a skilled and strong housekeeper and farm worker, she is a survivor despite being surrounded by drinkers, bad tempers and lechery.
Her plan to elope with lover Liam Ward, suspected of colluding with the Phoenix Park murderers (1882) of the English Lords Cavendish and Burke in Dublin, is another episode of betrayal in her meagre existence, but does not destroy her spirit.
Descriptions of the weather, the landscape, the smells, bring a real beauty to the story set against a whole world of mistrust…the Catholic/Protestant divide in never far below the surface of the events. And Charles Stewart Parnell is a powerful force in their lives.
November 26, 2018
Loved this book - the observer described it very aptly crisp,taunt and unsentimental- it masterfully sets you in Ireland of 1883 bringing that time period alive and real - the references to the politics of the time and the past , the nature of the countryside and most importantly the nature of all the residents landlords clergy and tenants their language and their habits are all so deftly and lightly handled you never feel lectured or laboured. And the characters - no one perfect and yet all very sympathetically portrayed - you felt something fir them all despite their skullduggery
A great story over 24 hrs with drama and intrigue urging you on to the next page and the next to be finally be brought almost full circle
A great read
A great story over 24 hrs with drama and intrigue urging you on to the next page and the next to be finally be brought almost full circle
A great read
March 24, 2019
I can only say that it left me chilled to the bone. Depressed. Anxious. All around disappointed with life. However, one must commend the author for writing so brilliantly that you are left feeling that the world is dark and hopeless.
Although the ideas were gloomy to say the least, they highlighted issues of sexual abuse, betrayal, incest*, and death (which to be honest, we already have enough of in this world).
But, he was a very good writer, knew how to spin them tales, but I wouldn't read it again. For me, it was too hard on the heart...And my heart's gone through a lot already.
*some mighn't agree if they have read the book, but I think that boyy, if you do it in the family- it be incest!
Although the ideas were gloomy to say the least, they highlighted issues of sexual abuse, betrayal, incest*, and death (which to be honest, we already have enough of in this world).
But, he was a very good writer, knew how to spin them tales, but I wouldn't read it again. For me, it was too hard on the heart...And my heart's gone through a lot already.
*some mighn't agree if they have read the book, but I think that boyy, if you do it in the family- it be incest!
February 7, 2019
I find it near impossible to say exactly why this so clearly merits a five star review, even though it was obvious from the first page that it would. A sense of delight at the smoothness and the pleasure of the sentences - I kept thinking Bailey's Irish Cream. The involvement in the fates of Beth and Billy Winters, the not knowing how it all would end, the evocation of place and season, of weather and the sky. All adding up to something very special.
(And no, having read of it being on TV I added the book to my Christmas list, knowing reading the only way to experience it.)
(And no, having read of it being on TV I added the book to my Christmas list, knowing reading the only way to experience it.)
January 11, 2020
This book is an excellent read, compelling and intriguing. I have to admit I hadn't heard of Death and Nightingales until I saw the TV series and that piqued my interest. Beth and Billy Winters must be two of the most complex characters ever written. Billy is such a dysfunctional, abusive person, yet somehow I still quite fancy him! (Especially played by the gorgeous Matthew Rhys). Poor Beth reminded me a little of Tess of the d'urbervilles, doomed to an unhappy, tragic fate, though she is not nearly so innocent of course. Definitely worth a read.
June 21, 2021
"The energy in Eugene McCabe's work comes from a sense of feud that takes its bearings not only from history, or land, or identity, or current politics, but something essential in nature itself, in the patterns of life and death, in seasons, in the tensions between men and women and between generations, in the gap between community and pure, unearthly solitude." (From the introduction by Colm Toibin.) This quote perfectly sums up the tone and emotion of this story. I'm looking forward to seeing how it was adapted into a three-part miniseries.
January 18, 2021
Interesting but too drawn out with excessive tangents that didn’t actually add anything to the overall story. It has a lot of descriptive language of the location and scenery, but very little description of the characters’ physical features.
Overall I wouldn’t be strongly encouraging someone to read this book and I doubt I’d recommend it to many people, but equally if someone was reading it I wouldn’t encourage them to stop.
Overall I wouldn’t be strongly encouraging someone to read this book and I doubt I’d recommend it to many people, but equally if someone was reading it I wouldn’t encourage them to stop.
May 27, 2021
Found this book while watching the mini series Death and Nightingales. Again the book is so much more beautiful than the series with its Irish landscape and 19th century conversations and way of life. Eugene McCabe has woven the geopolitical and religious tensions in Ireland of 1885 through a simple premise of love, betrayal, vengeance, and more. Read it to simply appreciate quaint Irish words throughout the text and for the love of nature descriptions.
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