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The Canal Bridge
In 1913, before there is a rumor of war in Europe, two lifelong friends from Ballyrannel in the Irish midlands, Matthias “Matt” Wrenn and Con Hatchel, decide to see the world at the expense of the king of England and join the British army. A year later, while en route to India, their troop ship is recalled and they find themselves in the slaughterhouse that was World War I. As stretcher bearers, the two men witness the horrors of the battlefield and the waste of human life at the Somme, Ypres, and Passchendaele. Meanwhile, back home in Ireland, Con’s sister and Matt’s lover, Kitty Hatchel, yearns for their safe return and reminds them of their carefree childhood on the banks of the local canal, as well as their hopes for the future.
Brilliantly and movingly narrated as a chorus of voices from the community—Matt, Con, Kitty, and others—The Canal Bridge tells the story of how the young men take Ballyrannel to war with them, and the many ways they bring the war’s devastation home. At war’s end, the Ireland the friends left in 1913 no longer exists, for the Rising against the British in 1916 has changed everything. In a land now riven with sectarian tensions and mounting bloodshed unfolds the love story of Matt and Kitty.
Brilliantly and movingly narrated as a chorus of voices from the community—Matt, Con, Kitty, and others—The Canal Bridge tells the story of how the young men take Ballyrannel to war with them, and the many ways they bring the war’s devastation home. At war’s end, the Ireland the friends left in 1913 no longer exists, for the Rising against the British in 1916 has changed everything. In a land now riven with sectarian tensions and mounting bloodshed unfolds the love story of Matt and Kitty.
348 pages, Paperback
First published October 23, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
October 12, 2014
Feel free to write off this review as the bias of a cranky, old man with ancestral roots in the northern part of the divided island, but The Canal Bridge: A Novel of Ireland, Love, and the First World War seemed like a brilliantly poetic idealization of carnage, criminal fanaticism, and suffering. The carnage was not exclusive to the War to End All Wars, the criminal fanaticism was the selfish twisting of the Fenian cause to serve one’s personal ambition, and the suffering was physical, emotional, and spiritual—wounds, death, grief, and loneliness.
In spite of the fact that my overall impression of this book was that it was the author’s indulgence of his poetic insights to the detriment of story and the fact that anyone who has read my previous (“self-indulgent”) reviews on this site will know that I hate schizophrenic books where point-of-view shifts as a conceit rather than advancing the story, there are some occasional insights. I liked the priest’s observation, “There’s times when I think the Irish begrudge and belittle each other more than the English humiliate us. If they can’t do something themselves, they’ll keep everyone else from doing it with their belittling.” (p. 84)
In fact, even though I question the value of poetically indulging oneself with the horrors of war, there were times when I couldn’t help but appreciate passages like: “[The artillery barrage] was like living in an enormous building the shape of the Canal Bridge, except the arch was made of noise instead of stone—screeching, howling, roaring, piercing, bone-shaking, head-splitting, explosive, brain-numbing, nonstop, nonstop, nonstop, nonstop.” (p. 97) I even felt a sick convulsion in my stomach when the dead from the Battle of the Somme were compared with sheaves after the harvest (p. 136).
The Canal Bridge is based, as billed on the cover, as a love story. It really isn’t a simple love story. It really deals with multiple love stories which overlap with multiple love triangles. The so-called Hatchel Triplets, a sister, brother, and adopted orphan form one. Matthew Wrenn is in love with Kitty, but opens himself up more with her brother. Con, is in love with the wealthy landowner’s daughter, but Kitty believes the daughter is going to take Matthew away from her. These delicate relationships are set against the backdrop of the horrors and losses of war, as well as the abuses in the name of Irish Republicanism (I am being honest about the abuses, but not unsympathetic to the cause itself.).
Of course, I’ve noticed a pattern present in the current crop of novels about World War I. The so-called Great War caused a lot of people to deny God because of the counter-evidence to God’s goodness. Instead of presenting the axiom about no atheists existing in foxholes, this book and others suggest the opposite. I find the arrogance of this position to be offensive. I realize that suffering, particularly meaningless suffering, would bring about a crisis of faith and denial by some, but the “matter of fact” and coldly rational assumption in this book doesn’t take complexity and human accountability into account. Assuming that God values the human will, one simply cannot know when and how God might apply the “Prime Directive” of non-interference. Theists recognize that God does involve the Divine Self on occasion, but there is biblical evidence to suggest that one desires the help before the intervention, as well as the fact that such intervention is not “guaranteed.” It appears to be the fact that one cannot manipulate God into acting as one desires into being a cosmic bellhop or fairy tale godmother that causes this denial of God’s existence. This is a more complex argument than I can offer space at this time, but it deserves more consideration than the deterministic, binary view of God presented in the minds of the characters in this book (and even in many of Anne Perry’s characters in her WWI series).
The above considerations made me uncomfortable with the recurring description of the placid water underneath The Canal Bridge of the title as “sanctifying grace, as smooth as mercury in a glass and as warm as custard on apple cake in winter.” (p. 219) When one uses the existence of evil (rather a necessity for authentic choice, one would think) as an excuse to exorcise the Divine from all existence, what concept of “grace” does one really have? Are the characters merely blowing upon the coals of the heart here (apologies to Archibald MacLeish) are have they really found some kind of salvation in this tiny spot of nature?
Not being willing to close on a negative note, let me state that I liked the clever sobriquet given to one of the main characters as “The Scarlet Pimpernel of the Stretcher Bearers,” an intriguing reference citing a soldier in the Boer War who allegedly had as many escapes as the swashbuckling hero of the post-French Revolutionary hero (p. 156). I haven’t figured out if this is the author’s fiction or a real-life reference, but I’m checking.
The Canal Bridge has some historical value, some clever passages, and a solid insight into the Celtic underpinnings of Irish culture. Yet, for me, it was schizophrenic and lacking.
In spite of the fact that my overall impression of this book was that it was the author’s indulgence of his poetic insights to the detriment of story and the fact that anyone who has read my previous (“self-indulgent”) reviews on this site will know that I hate schizophrenic books where point-of-view shifts as a conceit rather than advancing the story, there are some occasional insights. I liked the priest’s observation, “There’s times when I think the Irish begrudge and belittle each other more than the English humiliate us. If they can’t do something themselves, they’ll keep everyone else from doing it with their belittling.” (p. 84)
In fact, even though I question the value of poetically indulging oneself with the horrors of war, there were times when I couldn’t help but appreciate passages like: “[The artillery barrage] was like living in an enormous building the shape of the Canal Bridge, except the arch was made of noise instead of stone—screeching, howling, roaring, piercing, bone-shaking, head-splitting, explosive, brain-numbing, nonstop, nonstop, nonstop, nonstop.” (p. 97) I even felt a sick convulsion in my stomach when the dead from the Battle of the Somme were compared with sheaves after the harvest (p. 136).
The Canal Bridge is based, as billed on the cover, as a love story. It really isn’t a simple love story. It really deals with multiple love stories which overlap with multiple love triangles. The so-called Hatchel Triplets, a sister, brother, and adopted orphan form one. Matthew Wrenn is in love with Kitty, but opens himself up more with her brother. Con, is in love with the wealthy landowner’s daughter, but Kitty believes the daughter is going to take Matthew away from her. These delicate relationships are set against the backdrop of the horrors and losses of war, as well as the abuses in the name of Irish Republicanism (I am being honest about the abuses, but not unsympathetic to the cause itself.).
Of course, I’ve noticed a pattern present in the current crop of novels about World War I. The so-called Great War caused a lot of people to deny God because of the counter-evidence to God’s goodness. Instead of presenting the axiom about no atheists existing in foxholes, this book and others suggest the opposite. I find the arrogance of this position to be offensive. I realize that suffering, particularly meaningless suffering, would bring about a crisis of faith and denial by some, but the “matter of fact” and coldly rational assumption in this book doesn’t take complexity and human accountability into account. Assuming that God values the human will, one simply cannot know when and how God might apply the “Prime Directive” of non-interference. Theists recognize that God does involve the Divine Self on occasion, but there is biblical evidence to suggest that one desires the help before the intervention, as well as the fact that such intervention is not “guaranteed.” It appears to be the fact that one cannot manipulate God into acting as one desires into being a cosmic bellhop or fairy tale godmother that causes this denial of God’s existence. This is a more complex argument than I can offer space at this time, but it deserves more consideration than the deterministic, binary view of God presented in the minds of the characters in this book (and even in many of Anne Perry’s characters in her WWI series).
The above considerations made me uncomfortable with the recurring description of the placid water underneath The Canal Bridge of the title as “sanctifying grace, as smooth as mercury in a glass and as warm as custard on apple cake in winter.” (p. 219) When one uses the existence of evil (rather a necessity for authentic choice, one would think) as an excuse to exorcise the Divine from all existence, what concept of “grace” does one really have? Are the characters merely blowing upon the coals of the heart here (apologies to Archibald MacLeish) are have they really found some kind of salvation in this tiny spot of nature?
Not being willing to close on a negative note, let me state that I liked the clever sobriquet given to one of the main characters as “The Scarlet Pimpernel of the Stretcher Bearers,” an intriguing reference citing a soldier in the Boer War who allegedly had as many escapes as the swashbuckling hero of the post-French Revolutionary hero (p. 156). I haven’t figured out if this is the author’s fiction or a real-life reference, but I’m checking.
The Canal Bridge has some historical value, some clever passages, and a solid insight into the Celtic underpinnings of Irish culture. Yet, for me, it was schizophrenic and lacking.
December 12, 2016
A very Irish, and very heartbreaking, tale of World War I. Glossary of Irish slang included at the back if needed, and the author never uses one simile when four or six will do. Nevertheless, it was compelling and as anti-War in its own way as "The Things They Carried" was for Vietnam. The horror is explicit and graphic but very well done.
March 13, 2016
Suffering, carnage, life. This is a book that makes you think. This book is for the readers of historical fiction. About the reality of living in a harsh time. About the survivors.
November 24, 2023
Really good audiobook. It was fantastic hearing the story in an Irish accent.
This book was great. The language was very poetical, even when describing something horrific, it was beautiful. I really could picture every place in the book, the trenches and shell holes, the rats and Ballyrannel. The different characters were so clearly written, that I could imagine them in detail.
Very interesting book and it provided superb discussion in my book club. We all rated it very highly.
The time jumping annoyed me a bit, it didn’t confuse me but it did detract from my enjoyment of being lost in the moment of the story. Also, the ending was a bit too upsetting. But overall, a fantastic read and an author I would love to read more from.
This book was great. The language was very poetical, even when describing something horrific, it was beautiful. I really could picture every place in the book, the trenches and shell holes, the rats and Ballyrannel. The different characters were so clearly written, that I could imagine them in detail.
Very interesting book and it provided superb discussion in my book club. We all rated it very highly.
The time jumping annoyed me a bit, it didn’t confuse me but it did detract from my enjoyment of being lost in the moment of the story. Also, the ending was a bit too upsetting. But overall, a fantastic read and an author I would love to read more from.
August 23, 2022
First slowly read this poem by Wilfred Owen, who was killed one week before the Armistice of WWI.
[It is sweet and fitting to die for one's country.]
Then go read All Quiet on the Western Front
Now you can skip this book.
BUT, if you don't heed these suggestions, then this novel is, well, okay. Disjointed, not bad for the description of trench warfare, laughable for the romance. But you can do so much better elsewhere.
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs,
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots,
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of gas-shells dropping softly behind.
Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!—An ecstasy of fumbling
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time,
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime.—
Dim through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,—
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.
[It is sweet and fitting to die for one's country.]
Then go read All Quiet on the Western Front
Now you can skip this book.
BUT, if you don't heed these suggestions, then this novel is, well, okay. Disjointed, not bad for the description of trench warfare, laughable for the romance. But you can do so much better elsewhere.
February 26, 2020
I took a chance with this story because of the titles subtext about being a story of Ireland and WWI, an aspect of that war that I was not fully familiar with. The author’s description of the war shows the depth of his research. He doesn’t hold back on the horrific conditions. While reading the first two parts of this three part story, I would’ve rated the story 3 stars. The 3rd part turned changed my opinion that this was just a good story of love and war. In the the 3rd part, where love, war, & PTSD come together and is entwined with the failed 1916 Easter Rising, the story becomes gripping, exceeding expectations. Readers who are easily moved, have a box of tissues nearby.
June 15, 2014
Powerful, very moving, beautifully written. In The Canal Bridge, Irish writer Tom Phelan tells the story of two young Irish men who join the British army so that they can see the world--but end up as stretcher-bearers in the trenches of World War I. The book jacket offers this quote: "The best novel of love in the time of war since Cold Mountain." I believe The Canal Bridge to be superior. In all, an unforgettable novel.
September 3, 2014
This book is a coming of age story set in a small politically charged Irish village. It is told in 3 sections by different members of the community about what happens when two friends join the British army just before WW1 "to see the world". The story recounts in vivid detail the horrors of the fighting in Belgium around Ypres and how lives were changed for those who returned to Ireland. No soft soaping here... I could not put it down!
April 28, 2015
Unexpectedly good
This is a narrative from several characters' viewpoints. It took me until halfway through the novel to become interested in the story. But then I became invested in the character's, and followed them through the War.
It has the same disillusionment of war that Rilke's "All Quiet on the Western Front" and Hemingway's "A Farewell to Arms" had, and it's ending has the poignancy of Steinbeck's " Of Mice and Men".
This is a narrative from several characters' viewpoints. It took me until halfway through the novel to become interested in the story. But then I became invested in the character's, and followed them through the War.
It has the same disillusionment of war that Rilke's "All Quiet on the Western Front" and Hemingway's "A Farewell to Arms" had, and it's ending has the poignancy of Steinbeck's " Of Mice and Men".
July 28, 2014
Wanted to be more than it was. Each section being a different POV is interesting but also a hindrance since the characters always seem to be at arm's length. If you pick up a book set in Ireland, you can bet it will be tragic, and this one is no exception. This one almost tries too hard.
August 6, 2019
Surprisingly readable despite all the gory visions of death on a WW I battlefield...the author graphically describes the fear of young men and their horses as both get slaughtered en masse. The Irish family element is strong and acts as a relief.
June 6, 2014
Tragic, beautiful story, very moving.
October 5, 2014
Lyrical and horrifyingly realistic. The descriptions of trench warfare during WWI will turn your stomach and the human relationships will break your heart.
February 13, 2025
This one was pretty alright. I like this author most for his POVs; his books are essentially a collection of inner monologues. It feels unconventional and downright inconvenient at times, but I think that results in a novel reading experience.
Still, I didn't really resonate with most of this book. It was interestingly told, yes, but ultimately a lot of the chapters and story points felt "whatever" to me. It's the type of book that you finish and say, "yes, that was pretty well done." But at no point are you really ever that excited to read it.
Highlights:
- the ugly and strange thoughts that you can find in the thoughts of "good" characters
- impactful dialogue
- antiwar
- existential (exploration of the human experience)
- riveting scenes of violence that seem to underscore its senselessness
Still, I didn't really resonate with most of this book. It was interestingly told, yes, but ultimately a lot of the chapters and story points felt "whatever" to me. It's the type of book that you finish and say, "yes, that was pretty well done." But at no point are you really ever that excited to read it.
Highlights:
- the ugly and strange thoughts that you can find in the thoughts of "good" characters
- impactful dialogue
- antiwar
- existential (exploration of the human experience)
- riveting scenes of violence that seem to underscore its senselessness
Read
October 14, 2021A remarkably vivid portrayal of the mud, blood, horror and sweat that was WWI from the eyes of an Irish stretcher bearer. It helped me appreciate not only my American uncle who was an infantryman and my aunt who was an ambulance driver, but it helped me appreciate the horror of world war from the perspective of a person of Ireland who suffered equally.
November 29, 2018
reveals the horrors and carnage of "the Great War" ~ well-researched and a good read
November 7, 2025
"History books cannot pass on the pain endured, the anguish, the terror of the times."
The story telling is exceptional--the story itself is wrenching.
The story telling is exceptional--the story itself is wrenching.
January 9, 2019
I enjoyed the beautiful descriptions of the main characters' childhood around a canal outside of Dublin. Then when the scene shifts to the trenches, the author's powers of description evoke a whole other kind of horrifying world. The shifts in the narrative among the three main characters as well as a few others is good for emotional impact but can slow up the story.
March 4, 2016
At the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, despite years of simmering anti British feeling, Irish young men joined the British armed forces in the tens of thousands. During the course of the war over 200,000 served in English uniform, many others with Australian and Canadian units. Then in April, 1916, 21 months into the 51 month conflict, came the Easter Rising in Dublin. 116 dead British army troops and 318 Irish civilians or rebels, fifteen rebel leaders executed by firing squad, swiftly re-ignited fury at the Empire. Support for the Entente fell away; support for Germany grew. By the time the war was over and demobilized Irish soldiers came home, in many areas of Ireland, they were regarded as being somewhere on the continuum of traitorous behavior.
Tom Phelan has created an powerfully imagined story from these little known years of that war, those troubles. The Canal Bridge, (2014,) with its multiple narrators begins with a memory of three young children, “still in their nappies, staring across the canal at each other,” and quickly moves to 1909, the children in their early teens.
- See more at: http://www.allinoneboat.org/2015/03/2...
Tom Phelan has created an powerfully imagined story from these little known years of that war, those troubles. The Canal Bridge, (2014,) with its multiple narrators begins with a memory of three young children, “still in their nappies, staring across the canal at each other,” and quickly moves to 1909, the children in their early teens.
- See more at: http://www.allinoneboat.org/2015/03/2...
June 20, 2012
A quarter million Irish men served in the British army in WWI, fighting the Germans. While these men were dying in the trenches, a small band of their countrymen in Dublin rebelled in 1916 against the British, claiming the SUPPORT of Germany. The latter men have been heroicized, while those fighting in the war came home to a country whose political landscape had changed. Author Phelan knew many of these veterans when he was a child growing up on a farm in Ireland, and in writing THE CANAL BRIDGE he has given them their proper place in the pantheon of Irish heroes.
The book is a love story, a war story, a story of Ireland, and more--heartbreaking, compelling, unforgettable. The Irish Independent has called it a masterpiece, and I could not agree more.
The book is a love story, a war story, a story of Ireland, and more--heartbreaking, compelling, unforgettable. The Irish Independent has called it a masterpiece, and I could not agree more.
June 14, 2015
What struck me most about Phelan's novel about love in WWI was how real it felt. There was no real moment where I felt like there has been not a single real instance where a character's opinion about their situation was reflecting a specific political outcome- a lot of the times, the realness of a character's reaction went hand in hand with their situation or their response. It does make me want to read something from the IRA point of view, since Phelan's characters are very staunchly anti-IRA, but that's more a testament to Phelan's minor characters. Even with them I wanted to know what had driven them to such stubborn patriotism. Highly recommended for those who enjoy war novels or are intriguied/invested in Irish history.
March 29, 2014
Kitty, her brother Con, and his best friend Matthias were inseparable. They lived by a canal in a small town in Ireland, and grew up singing how “their side” was the best side. Amusing themselves on the canal, in the canal and on the towpath beside it, their lives revolved around each other and the canal. Read the rest of my review on my blog "Should I read it or Not?": http://shouldireaditornot.wordpress.c...
August 13, 2016
3.5 - a powerful story underlies the narrative, but by skipping times and places and shifting points of view, the narrative loses its oomph (a technical term, right?). The great love between Kitty and Matthias survives the first great war. Memories made in the first chapters alongside the canal that separated their homes offer comfort and strength through the war––and calls Matt home. The divisions between the Irish that began just before they left flame up, and an old enemy leads a deadly attack on the estate where the two live.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 9, 2014
A great story from start to finish. The tale centers on three friends, two boys and one girl and their coming of age in Ireland just as WWI breaks out. The boys go off to fight for the English. The girl stays behind to pray for their safe return. Only one comes back and he must face the terrors of war and the hatred of some of his countrymen while fighting to find love and redemption.
September 4, 2014
The story of three best friends during times of upheaval and conflict, pre and post World War I in Ireland. The format is of single stories connecting together with cleverly woven details. The character's voices are true, real and filled with passion. Be prepared for the descriptive horrors soldiers experienced in the trenches of Flanders and the Somme.
December 25, 2013
Found echoes of long passed relatives and my childhood memories in this story. Won't forget this read.
September 5, 2014
Fascinating, believeable horror story. Well told but too tragic.
April 29, 2015
Very good read.
May 5, 2015
This is a very moving story. But be forewarned, the descriptions of death and suffering in World War I are graphic and horrible.
May 9, 2015
Outstanding
I found the first person narrative from the perspective of several characters effective in getting reader to feel the story. I highly recommend this book.
I found the first person narrative from the perspective of several characters effective in getting reader to feel the story. I highly recommend this book.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews