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Bouquet of White Roses: Quest for Truth about Aunt Sue and Me
Since childhood Lucy Costigan had felt a deep affinity with the 1920s. The style, the fashion, the music and especially the Charleston all evoked a sense of freedom and joy. Her Aunt Sue had lived during the 1920s, but had tragically died from TB at the age of 20. Lucy had always felt something special for Sue, as though she was close by, guiding her. There was also Lucy’s recurring dream of white roses that she didn’t understand, a bouquet presented by a man in the throes of sadness. When in her mid-20s Lucy visited a spiritual medium, the details of a past life emerged. All the evidence began to pile up, that she had lived before as her aunt, through the hectic ‘20s when Sue had fallen in love for the first and only time, with Dubliner, Tom. And so Lucy’s quest began–through decades of family research, further readings, regression and ancestral healing–to unearth her true connection with Aunt Sue.
204 pages, Paperback
Published August 3, 2020
About the author
Lucy Costigan
22 books7 followersLucy Costigan is an Irish author. ‘Strangest Genius: The Stained Glass of Harry Clarke’, (with photographer Michael Cullen), was shortlisted for Best Irish-Published Book in 2010 by the Irish Book Awards, and for Book of the Decade by Dublin Book Festival in 2016.
In 2012, Lucy's biography, ‘Glenveagh Mystery’ about the Harvard professor, Arthur Kingsley Porter, who mysteriously disappeared from Co. Donegal in 1933, became a national bestseller.
Lucy’s working life has been quite eclectic and includes careers in technical writing, counselling and social care. She holds Master’s Degrees in Research and Equality Studies.
Lucy's most recent book is 'Bouquet of White Roses: Quest for truth about Aunt Sue and Me', published by Enlighten Publishing, 2020 (www.enlightenpublishing.com).
Lucy lives in Wexford Town with her partner, Tony, and their border collie, Ivan.
In 2012, Lucy's biography, ‘Glenveagh Mystery’ about the Harvard professor, Arthur Kingsley Porter, who mysteriously disappeared from Co. Donegal in 1933, became a national bestseller.
Lucy’s working life has been quite eclectic and includes careers in technical writing, counselling and social care. She holds Master’s Degrees in Research and Equality Studies.
Lucy's most recent book is 'Bouquet of White Roses: Quest for truth about Aunt Sue and Me', published by Enlighten Publishing, 2020 (www.enlightenpublishing.com).
Lucy lives in Wexford Town with her partner, Tony, and their border collie, Ivan.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
November 14, 2020
‘Bouquet of White Roses’ is the authentic telling of the personal and biographical story of Lucy Costigan, a young Wexford girl, working in Dublin, who at this time in her life is very troubled by many personal issues. In trying to deal with these issues, Lucy, on the advice of some close friends, arranges an appointment with a Spiritual Medium, Brendan O’ Callaghan, whose reputation in providing beneficial spiritual healing comes well recommended. Lucy attends for her session in the afternoon at 2.30pm, really unaware of what she should expect. O’Callaghan conducts a spiritual reading which astonishingly reveals that Lucy has lived previously during the 1920’s. The Medium goes on to further indicate who that person might be, based on these revelations. Lucy, shocked to her core, recognises immediately that it is her relative, Susannah Costigan, that is being spoken about.
Tuesday, 27th March, 1990 and its amazing revelations would always be a momentous day in the life of Lucy Costigan because its consequences would have far reaching effects in every aspect of her future life. This day’s events are retold here and form the basis for our gripping story ‘Bouquet of White Roses’ which continues powerfully to tell us the facts of Lucy being the reincarnation of Susannah Costigan, an aunt who lived almost 60 years previously and whose life was taken prematurely at the young age of 20 years, from tuberculosis.
Lucy’s “Quest for Truth about Aunt Sue and me” tells of how this young girl goes about living her life from that momentous day forward. Burdened with this knowledge that she is Sue Costigan reincarnated, in addition to her already troubled life issues which sent her to Brendan O’Callaghan in the first place, requires a determined effort to find answers rather than to capitulate under duress! Lucy provides her answers here for the reader to evaluate!
‘Bouquet of White Roses: Quest for Truth about Aunt Sue and Me’, is a very compelling read and comes to the book shelves highly recommended.
Tuesday, 27th March, 1990 and its amazing revelations would always be a momentous day in the life of Lucy Costigan because its consequences would have far reaching effects in every aspect of her future life. This day’s events are retold here and form the basis for our gripping story ‘Bouquet of White Roses’ which continues powerfully to tell us the facts of Lucy being the reincarnation of Susannah Costigan, an aunt who lived almost 60 years previously and whose life was taken prematurely at the young age of 20 years, from tuberculosis.
Lucy’s “Quest for Truth about Aunt Sue and me” tells of how this young girl goes about living her life from that momentous day forward. Burdened with this knowledge that she is Sue Costigan reincarnated, in addition to her already troubled life issues which sent her to Brendan O’Callaghan in the first place, requires a determined effort to find answers rather than to capitulate under duress! Lucy provides her answers here for the reader to evaluate!
‘Bouquet of White Roses: Quest for Truth about Aunt Sue and Me’, is a very compelling read and comes to the book shelves highly recommended.
November 25, 2020
A lovely, courageous book, easy to read and enjoy. The very personal, honest, and beguiling story of the authors search for meaning. She shares the long journey towards her truth and her authentic self, her attraction to the 1920's, the Charleston, and the time of" The Great Gatsby".Her relationship and closeness with her Aunt Cha in Inchicore and her adult children, the McGovern cousins, one in particular, Raymond and Rex the family dog.
In her seeking, over the years, she knocked on many doors and the one in Wicklow Street altered the direction her life would take. A spiritual reading brought her to the beginnings of an understanding of her reincarnation as her Aunt Susanah, who died at a young age. She moved around Ireland, America, and the Far East until she found what she was looking for.
She has a Joycean way of describing her wanderings, for example "the grotto at the Oblates church, Woolworths in Henry Street, the Halfpenny Bridge, lighting a candle in Clarendon Street, Portmarnock Golf Club, " the school, college, and Dublin years. It is a great read and an inspiration to those in persuit of themselves and the forces that shape characters and destinies. To quote herself " I am no longer like a leaf blown in the wind".
In her seeking, over the years, she knocked on many doors and the one in Wicklow Street altered the direction her life would take. A spiritual reading brought her to the beginnings of an understanding of her reincarnation as her Aunt Susanah, who died at a young age. She moved around Ireland, America, and the Far East until she found what she was looking for.
She has a Joycean way of describing her wanderings, for example "the grotto at the Oblates church, Woolworths in Henry Street, the Halfpenny Bridge, lighting a candle in Clarendon Street, Portmarnock Golf Club, " the school, college, and Dublin years. It is a great read and an inspiration to those in persuit of themselves and the forces that shape characters and destinies. To quote herself " I am no longer like a leaf blown in the wind".
November 15, 2020
It's not often you find a personal account of reincarnation such as Lucy Costigan has described in 'Bouquet of white roses'. It's a mystery she is trying to solve all through the book: Did she indeed live before as her Aunt Sue? Lucy's regression with Dr. Brian Weiss will also, I suspect, be of great interest to readers. I highly recommend this book especially to anyone who feels that there is more to life than just physical presence.
December 2, 2020
Bouquet of White Roses, quest for truth about Aunt Sue and me, is a well crafted piece of writing strategically delivered telling a true story of actual reincarnation in the person of the author, Lucy Costigan and how it subsequently effects her life throughout the next 30 years.
Lucy, in 1990, already a very troubled soul with a welter weight of personal issues has suddenly been presented with this revelation that she had lived in a past life as her Aunt Sue, her fathers sister.
How can a young girl, alone and away from home , bear up under these circumstances and who can she confide in?
A very compelling read, ''Bouquet of White Roses'' goes on to detail precisely what happens to Lucy over those many years that followed and how it can take its toll in more ways than one !
They say that the truth is hard to swallow and Lucy Costigan pulls no punches in delivering a true and factual account of a long and very difficult period that really has to be experienced to be believed.
I thoroughly recommend this book as sensational. NM
Lucy, in 1990, already a very troubled soul with a welter weight of personal issues has suddenly been presented with this revelation that she had lived in a past life as her Aunt Sue, her fathers sister.
How can a young girl, alone and away from home , bear up under these circumstances and who can she confide in?
A very compelling read, ''Bouquet of White Roses'' goes on to detail precisely what happens to Lucy over those many years that followed and how it can take its toll in more ways than one !
They say that the truth is hard to swallow and Lucy Costigan pulls no punches in delivering a true and factual account of a long and very difficult period that really has to be experienced to be believed.
I thoroughly recommend this book as sensational. NM
November 26, 2020
I have just finished reading this fascinating book on Lucy Costigan's quest to find her true connection with her aunt Sue. I thoroughly enjoyed it and certainly recommend it. The connection between the author and her aunt Sue was very well woven together, culminating in a major revelation that got me thinking a lot about the true meaning of life. It also made me think of how important family is, as the book also explores Lucy's family over several generations and the way one person may affect the lives of other members for good or ill. A really thought-provoking and beautifully-crafted true story.
November 26, 2020
Beautiful true story here about the author's search to find the truth about her connection with her aunt Sue who had died many decades before she was born. Another classic from Lucy Costigan who knows how to keep the reader engaged and enthralled. I whole-hardheartedly recommend 'Bouquet of white roses'.
January 31, 2021
BOUQUET OF WHITE ROSES by Lucy Costigan
This book is like listening to a good friend telling you a good story. I particularly liked the setting of both Dublin and Rosslare as I am familiar with both, being a Dubliner who holidayed in Wexford. My parents were born in the 1920s and the story ticks the memories of their stories and soon becomes a page turner.
This is an easy read. The photos are great. My father was a golfer, and I adore a book with a family tree as it is so easy to see who’s who and what relation they are to each other.
By the end of the prologue you are hooked, having immediately fallen for Sue, Tom and Charlotte. That photo of the three of them on a break from working in Portmarnock Golf Club invokes the atmosphere of the times and all you want to do is to read more.
And once Lucy Costigan looked into alternative healing in the form of Spiritual Healing I was hooked. Lots of Irish people have a 6th sense and some a 7th and some people suppress it and others embrace and share their experiences. My breath was taken away when the author mentioned Fr Jim Cogley of Our Lady’s Island in Wexford. I was told about him less than a year ago and have since read two of his “Wood you Believe” books and webcam his masses for his homilies alone, they are revealing, educational and challenging yet always full of humanity. Just what is needed in Covid-19 lockdowns and also if you are searching.
I would have liked to have read more about Lucy’s struggles within her own life. She refers to tough times but does not expand enough from my point of view. I would also have liked to have known more about the links she believes she has with her Aunt Sue and how deep they go and how persistent they are.
If you have an inkling that you have a spiritual side and perhaps an affinity with an era or a person long past, this book will set you on your way to answering that inkling and solving that affinity.
Lucy Costigan gives great pointers as to how to research in Ireland with a means to an end. All our relatives/ancestors have stories to tell and have lived through historical times.
This book is like listening to a good friend telling you a good story. I particularly liked the setting of both Dublin and Rosslare as I am familiar with both, being a Dubliner who holidayed in Wexford. My parents were born in the 1920s and the story ticks the memories of their stories and soon becomes a page turner.
This is an easy read. The photos are great. My father was a golfer, and I adore a book with a family tree as it is so easy to see who’s who and what relation they are to each other.
By the end of the prologue you are hooked, having immediately fallen for Sue, Tom and Charlotte. That photo of the three of them on a break from working in Portmarnock Golf Club invokes the atmosphere of the times and all you want to do is to read more.
And once Lucy Costigan looked into alternative healing in the form of Spiritual Healing I was hooked. Lots of Irish people have a 6th sense and some a 7th and some people suppress it and others embrace and share their experiences. My breath was taken away when the author mentioned Fr Jim Cogley of Our Lady’s Island in Wexford. I was told about him less than a year ago and have since read two of his “Wood you Believe” books and webcam his masses for his homilies alone, they are revealing, educational and challenging yet always full of humanity. Just what is needed in Covid-19 lockdowns and also if you are searching.
I would have liked to have read more about Lucy’s struggles within her own life. She refers to tough times but does not expand enough from my point of view. I would also have liked to have known more about the links she believes she has with her Aunt Sue and how deep they go and how persistent they are.
If you have an inkling that you have a spiritual side and perhaps an affinity with an era or a person long past, this book will set you on your way to answering that inkling and solving that affinity.
Lucy Costigan gives great pointers as to how to research in Ireland with a means to an end. All our relatives/ancestors have stories to tell and have lived through historical times.
April 29, 2021
Book Review: So Much More than Spirituality — “Bouquet of White Roses” (published on artsfuse.org)
Ever since her youth, author Lucy Costigan has maintained a predilection for the Charleston, glasswork, and The Great Gatsby — artifacts of Roaring Twenties culture. She also has maintained an enduring affinity for her Aunt Sue, who died of tuberculosis in 1932 at age 20. In an attempt to better understand these uncanny penchants — as well as recurring teenage dreams about a man approaching a grave with a bouquet of white roses — the author embarks on a revelatory quest. The autobiographical Bouquet of White Roses details the author’s search and its eye-opening conclusion: Costigan is convinced she is the reincarnation of her late aunt.
The fulcrum upon which Costigan’s epiphany hinges is a 1990 spiritual reading by Brendan O’Callaghan. Hailed as an event where “all the questions [she’d] ever had about purpose and meaning in life were being dished up … on a platter,” Costigan learns that her soul has escaped from previous experiences in the ’20s. Sue had died young because her life trajectory had veered off course: rather than being a teacher, as the spirits intended, she was on track to become a wife and mother. Lucy is hosting her aunt’s soul so she can complete her psychic odyssey. A mélange of additional spiritual readings, angel readings, ancestral healings, and regressions vindicates Lucy’s hunch.
More poignantly, these metaphysical forays illuminate a broader family quagmire. Anointing herself in the spiritual realm, Lucy’s deceased grandmother attempts to recalibrate a generations-long power imbalance among kin. Lucy, of course, is the earthly medium tasked to take action. Some of the problems are traced to the union of her aunt Cha and uncle Charles McGovern. Though financially well off, their domestic relationship was toxic: high expectations left their children feeling inferior, overly self-critical, and too impotent to express themselves. Family secrets was another issue — it meant unearthing an ostracized, hitherto-unknown great-uncle along with three of his siblings who died as children. By enrolling living relatives as fellow sleuths in her ancestral probe, Costigan restores her family’s fissiparous arrangements — past and present — to a meaningful whole.
Beyond its compelling otherworldliness, Bouquet of White Roses tantalizes in more concrete ways, particularly the inspiring transformation of Lucy from a 20-something who was “lost in every way that mattered” into a mature and successful adult. As she grows to understand Sue, Lucy trades a well-paid but monotonous programming career for a job in psychotherapy. Working at a spiritual center in Dublin (where she initially had met Brendan O’Callaghan), Lucy cultivates new friendships and, for the first time, begins to savor life. She also drifts apart from her swarthy and manic heartthrob, Philo. In 1997 she relocates to her hometown of Wexford, where she continues to explore therapy and blossoms as an author – writing numerous books, establishing a publishing house, and creating Wexford Life magazine with the help of her cousin Raymond and nephew Michael. Her journey entails travel with emotional growth: a three-year technical writing stint in California and a trip to Thailand deepen her understanding of spirituality.
The book also doubles as a kind of detective story. Tracking down her cousin Raymond, Costigan obtains her first photographs of Sue, the woman’s draught set, and a copy of Louis Granada’s Sinners Guide (1555), which bears Sue’s signature. Each of these items brings Lucy’s sentient relationship with Sue into sharp relief. Complementing these heirlooms, Lucy’s discussions with her elderly aunt May — Sue’s sister — send the former on a stirring visit to Portmarnock Golf Club, where in 1927 Sue worked as a waitress during the first Irish Open. There she served future golf legend Joe Carr and met her beau, Tom. Locating and then visiting Tom’s graveside — as well as tombs of other family forebears — enables Costigan to complete her healing journey. Of course, May confirms that Tom had traveled to Kilrane with a bouquet of white roses to place upon Sue’s funeral grave. Numerous photographs throughout the book illustrate Costigan’s crusade.
For all of its appeal, Bouquet of White Roses has its disappointments. What is lacking is some sustained introspection, a connection with Lucy’s feelings at decisive moments of spiritual illumination. Rather than bringing us into her stream-of-consciousness — rhapsodic, revelatory, or otherwise — the author prefers to stand back and narrate, marveling at the uncanny insight healers had into hidden tidbits of her life (e.g., O’Callaghan knowing about a sibling who poked the eye out of a childhood teddy bear). Costigan’s meticulous description and analysis frequently becomes distracting because it distances us from her personal experience, her drama of self-discovery. Equally confounding is that we learn so little about Costigan’s relationship with her partner. Bouquet of White Roses stresses the primacy of interpersonal relationships, but Tony Walsh remains a liminal figure who never receives a proper introduction.
There are other irritations The family tree at the beginning of the text, for example, proved to be more vexatious than helpful. Some relatives mentioned in the book are absent from the diagram, most notably Costigan’s cousin Raymond and her nephew Michael. Charles McGovern and his children are also missing. Additionally, Costigan’s map of Ireland would have been more efficient if it had only listed sites relevant to her investigation. And her chapter “Back in Dublin, From 1990” is missing from the table of contents. I also had some lingering curiosity about a second previous life that Costigan purportedly experienced in the 1800s. Why don’t readers learn more about that?
Still, Bouquet of White Roses fascinates, particularly because Costigan has found an ingenious way to chart how pernicious behavioral patterns endure throughout generations of a family. Though I cannot relate to reincarnation personally, in this case the belief has led to compelling psychological insights. Those who embrace spiritual adventure — reincarnation as a mode of family therapy — will be illuminated and entertained by this book.
Ever since her youth, author Lucy Costigan has maintained a predilection for the Charleston, glasswork, and The Great Gatsby — artifacts of Roaring Twenties culture. She also has maintained an enduring affinity for her Aunt Sue, who died of tuberculosis in 1932 at age 20. In an attempt to better understand these uncanny penchants — as well as recurring teenage dreams about a man approaching a grave with a bouquet of white roses — the author embarks on a revelatory quest. The autobiographical Bouquet of White Roses details the author’s search and its eye-opening conclusion: Costigan is convinced she is the reincarnation of her late aunt.
The fulcrum upon which Costigan’s epiphany hinges is a 1990 spiritual reading by Brendan O’Callaghan. Hailed as an event where “all the questions [she’d] ever had about purpose and meaning in life were being dished up … on a platter,” Costigan learns that her soul has escaped from previous experiences in the ’20s. Sue had died young because her life trajectory had veered off course: rather than being a teacher, as the spirits intended, she was on track to become a wife and mother. Lucy is hosting her aunt’s soul so she can complete her psychic odyssey. A mélange of additional spiritual readings, angel readings, ancestral healings, and regressions vindicates Lucy’s hunch.
More poignantly, these metaphysical forays illuminate a broader family quagmire. Anointing herself in the spiritual realm, Lucy’s deceased grandmother attempts to recalibrate a generations-long power imbalance among kin. Lucy, of course, is the earthly medium tasked to take action. Some of the problems are traced to the union of her aunt Cha and uncle Charles McGovern. Though financially well off, their domestic relationship was toxic: high expectations left their children feeling inferior, overly self-critical, and too impotent to express themselves. Family secrets was another issue — it meant unearthing an ostracized, hitherto-unknown great-uncle along with three of his siblings who died as children. By enrolling living relatives as fellow sleuths in her ancestral probe, Costigan restores her family’s fissiparous arrangements — past and present — to a meaningful whole.
Beyond its compelling otherworldliness, Bouquet of White Roses tantalizes in more concrete ways, particularly the inspiring transformation of Lucy from a 20-something who was “lost in every way that mattered” into a mature and successful adult. As she grows to understand Sue, Lucy trades a well-paid but monotonous programming career for a job in psychotherapy. Working at a spiritual center in Dublin (where she initially had met Brendan O’Callaghan), Lucy cultivates new friendships and, for the first time, begins to savor life. She also drifts apart from her swarthy and manic heartthrob, Philo. In 1997 she relocates to her hometown of Wexford, where she continues to explore therapy and blossoms as an author – writing numerous books, establishing a publishing house, and creating Wexford Life magazine with the help of her cousin Raymond and nephew Michael. Her journey entails travel with emotional growth: a three-year technical writing stint in California and a trip to Thailand deepen her understanding of spirituality.
The book also doubles as a kind of detective story. Tracking down her cousin Raymond, Costigan obtains her first photographs of Sue, the woman’s draught set, and a copy of Louis Granada’s Sinners Guide (1555), which bears Sue’s signature. Each of these items brings Lucy’s sentient relationship with Sue into sharp relief. Complementing these heirlooms, Lucy’s discussions with her elderly aunt May — Sue’s sister — send the former on a stirring visit to Portmarnock Golf Club, where in 1927 Sue worked as a waitress during the first Irish Open. There she served future golf legend Joe Carr and met her beau, Tom. Locating and then visiting Tom’s graveside — as well as tombs of other family forebears — enables Costigan to complete her healing journey. Of course, May confirms that Tom had traveled to Kilrane with a bouquet of white roses to place upon Sue’s funeral grave. Numerous photographs throughout the book illustrate Costigan’s crusade.
For all of its appeal, Bouquet of White Roses has its disappointments. What is lacking is some sustained introspection, a connection with Lucy’s feelings at decisive moments of spiritual illumination. Rather than bringing us into her stream-of-consciousness — rhapsodic, revelatory, or otherwise — the author prefers to stand back and narrate, marveling at the uncanny insight healers had into hidden tidbits of her life (e.g., O’Callaghan knowing about a sibling who poked the eye out of a childhood teddy bear). Costigan’s meticulous description and analysis frequently becomes distracting because it distances us from her personal experience, her drama of self-discovery. Equally confounding is that we learn so little about Costigan’s relationship with her partner. Bouquet of White Roses stresses the primacy of interpersonal relationships, but Tony Walsh remains a liminal figure who never receives a proper introduction.
There are other irritations The family tree at the beginning of the text, for example, proved to be more vexatious than helpful. Some relatives mentioned in the book are absent from the diagram, most notably Costigan’s cousin Raymond and her nephew Michael. Charles McGovern and his children are also missing. Additionally, Costigan’s map of Ireland would have been more efficient if it had only listed sites relevant to her investigation. And her chapter “Back in Dublin, From 1990” is missing from the table of contents. I also had some lingering curiosity about a second previous life that Costigan purportedly experienced in the 1800s. Why don’t readers learn more about that?
Still, Bouquet of White Roses fascinates, particularly because Costigan has found an ingenious way to chart how pernicious behavioral patterns endure throughout generations of a family. Though I cannot relate to reincarnation personally, in this case the belief has led to compelling psychological insights. Those who embrace spiritual adventure — reincarnation as a mode of family therapy — will be illuminated and entertained by this book.
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January 31, 2021BOUQUET OF WHITE ROSES by Lucy Costigan
This book is like listening to a good friend telling you a good story. I particularly liked the setting of both Dublin and Rosslare as I am familiar with both being a Dubliner who holidayed in Wexford. My parents were born in the 1920s and the story ticks the memories of their stories and soon becomes a page turner.
This is an easy read. The photos are great, my father was a golfer, and I adore a book with a family tree as it is so easy to see who’s who and what relation they are to each other.
By the end of the prologue you are hooked having immediately fallen for Susan, Tom and Charlotte and that photo of the three of them on a break from working in Portmarnock Golf Club invokes the atmosphere of the times and all you want to d is read more.
And once Lucy Costigan looked into alternative healing in the form of Spiritual Healing I was hooked. Lots of Irish people have a 6th sense and some a 7th and some people suppress it and others embrace and share their experiences. My breath was taken away when the author mentioned Fr Jim Cogley of Our Lady’s Island in Wexford. I was told about him less than a year ago and have since read two of his “Wood you Believe” books and webcam his masses for his homilies alone, they are revealing, educational and challenging yet always full of humanity. Just what is needed in Covid-19 lockdowns and also if you are searching.
I would have liked to have read more about Lucy’s struggles within her own life. She refers to tough times but does not expand enough from my point of view. I would also have liked to have known more about the links she believes she has with her Aunt Sue and how deep they go and how persistent they are.
If you have an inkling that you have a spiritual side and perhaps an affinity with an era or a person long past, this book will set you on your way to answering that inkling and solving that affinity.
Lucy Costigan gives great pointers as to how to research in Ireland with a means to an end. All our relatives/ancestors have stories to tell and have lived through historical times.
This book is like listening to a good friend telling you a good story. I particularly liked the setting of both Dublin and Rosslare as I am familiar with both being a Dubliner who holidayed in Wexford. My parents were born in the 1920s and the story ticks the memories of their stories and soon becomes a page turner.
This is an easy read. The photos are great, my father was a golfer, and I adore a book with a family tree as it is so easy to see who’s who and what relation they are to each other.
By the end of the prologue you are hooked having immediately fallen for Susan, Tom and Charlotte and that photo of the three of them on a break from working in Portmarnock Golf Club invokes the atmosphere of the times and all you want to d is read more.
And once Lucy Costigan looked into alternative healing in the form of Spiritual Healing I was hooked. Lots of Irish people have a 6th sense and some a 7th and some people suppress it and others embrace and share their experiences. My breath was taken away when the author mentioned Fr Jim Cogley of Our Lady’s Island in Wexford. I was told about him less than a year ago and have since read two of his “Wood you Believe” books and webcam his masses for his homilies alone, they are revealing, educational and challenging yet always full of humanity. Just what is needed in Covid-19 lockdowns and also if you are searching.
I would have liked to have read more about Lucy’s struggles within her own life. She refers to tough times but does not expand enough from my point of view. I would also have liked to have known more about the links she believes she has with her Aunt Sue and how deep they go and how persistent they are.
If you have an inkling that you have a spiritual side and perhaps an affinity with an era or a person long past, this book will set you on your way to answering that inkling and solving that affinity.
Lucy Costigan gives great pointers as to how to research in Ireland with a means to an end. All our relatives/ancestors have stories to tell and have lived through historical times.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews