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Liberty Terrace
Liberty Terrace features a bevy of characters who reside in a fictional area of Cork City in the period 2016 to 2020. The inhabitants of Liberty Terrace come and go, and their lives occasionally intersect in stories that are sometimes funny, sometimes dark, often both. The cast of characters includes retired Garda Superintendent Deckie Google, a young homeless squatter, the mother of an autistic child working part-time as a Census Enumerator, the dysfunctional Callinan family, an ageing rock star, a trio of ladies who visit a faith healer, a philandering husband, as well as a surprising number of cats and dogs. These stories shed light on how we lived before and during the Covid-19 pandemic, on what we care about and on what, if anything, we can truly count on.
- GenresShort StoriesIreland
200 pages, Paperback
Published October 1, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
October 26, 2021
One of my favourite kind of short story collections is those where the stories are interconnected, with characters from one story turning up in another one, albeit often only briefly. Liberty Terrace fulfils that requirement completely. Not only is it fun spotting names you recognise from an earlier story but often it provides additional insight into a character you’ve met before.
In a short story collection there are usually some stories that resonate more than others and Liberty Terrace is no exception. Often they are not necessarily the stories that you enjoy so much as admire for their craft. ‘Quality Time’ is one of the darker stories in which the tables are turned and a man experiences what it is like to be powerless. The theme of power manifests itself again in ‘Dignity’ in which a woman becomes determined to exercise control over what remains of her life. There’s humour as well such as in ‘The Silence of the Crows’ in which a woman conducts a silent war against the crows that disturb her sleep and is rewarded by them depositing ‘random splats of grey-white bird poop’ on her car. Unfortunately, as it turns out that’s the least of her worries as a doorstep encounter will prove.
Another story I liked was ‘Milo’s Book of Feelings’ in which the mother of an autistic child receives an unexpected and inspiring gift. My absolute favourite story was ‘Ezinna’s Flamboyant Tree’ in which a recent immigrant to the country buys a small tree because it reminds her of the colourful trees in her birth country. The tree in its too small pot becomes a metaphor for how she feels – constrained and living in an environment in which she feels she cannot prosper. However, when she finds the right place for the tree, she discovers friendship and a new sense of belonging. The final story in the book, ‘The Great Lockdown Rescue’, not only brings things full circle by featuring characters who appeared in the book’s opening story but sees Liberty Terrace inhabitants coming together to perform a daring rescue, evoking the real-life community spirit evidenced in many places during the Covid-19 lockdown.
By the end of the book I felt I could walk along Liberty Terrace and recognise the people I passed in the street, know whose door I could knock on for a cup of tea – and whose I should avoid. Liberty Terrace is a fascinating collection of well-crafted stories that span the spectrum from dark to light and, I think, offer something for everyone.
In a short story collection there are usually some stories that resonate more than others and Liberty Terrace is no exception. Often they are not necessarily the stories that you enjoy so much as admire for their craft. ‘Quality Time’ is one of the darker stories in which the tables are turned and a man experiences what it is like to be powerless. The theme of power manifests itself again in ‘Dignity’ in which a woman becomes determined to exercise control over what remains of her life. There’s humour as well such as in ‘The Silence of the Crows’ in which a woman conducts a silent war against the crows that disturb her sleep and is rewarded by them depositing ‘random splats of grey-white bird poop’ on her car. Unfortunately, as it turns out that’s the least of her worries as a doorstep encounter will prove.
Another story I liked was ‘Milo’s Book of Feelings’ in which the mother of an autistic child receives an unexpected and inspiring gift. My absolute favourite story was ‘Ezinna’s Flamboyant Tree’ in which a recent immigrant to the country buys a small tree because it reminds her of the colourful trees in her birth country. The tree in its too small pot becomes a metaphor for how she feels – constrained and living in an environment in which she feels she cannot prosper. However, when she finds the right place for the tree, she discovers friendship and a new sense of belonging. The final story in the book, ‘The Great Lockdown Rescue’, not only brings things full circle by featuring characters who appeared in the book’s opening story but sees Liberty Terrace inhabitants coming together to perform a daring rescue, evoking the real-life community spirit evidenced in many places during the Covid-19 lockdown.
By the end of the book I felt I could walk along Liberty Terrace and recognise the people I passed in the street, know whose door I could knock on for a cup of tea – and whose I should avoid. Liberty Terrace is a fascinating collection of well-crafted stories that span the spectrum from dark to light and, I think, offer something for everyone.
October 21, 2021
I have always liked an anthology and the fact that there is a common denominator between all these stories only makes them better!
Liberty Terrace is a fictional street in Cork City. These stories, set between 2016 and 2020, all have residents at their heart and are many and varied. While each tale is a stand-alone read, there are connections which only become clear as you make your way through the collection.
What a fabulous idea to have an anthology like this! I really enjoyed each story, and discovering the connections was the icing on the cake. Cleverly crafted and really well-written, this is an author to watch out for. A very moreish collection of stories and one it’s very hard to put aside. If you enjoy short reads with a common theme, this is one for you. I’m happy to recommend this one, and give it 4*.
Liberty Terrace is a fictional street in Cork City. These stories, set between 2016 and 2020, all have residents at their heart and are many and varied. While each tale is a stand-alone read, there are connections which only become clear as you make your way through the collection.
What a fabulous idea to have an anthology like this! I really enjoyed each story, and discovering the connections was the icing on the cake. Cleverly crafted and really well-written, this is an author to watch out for. A very moreish collection of stories and one it’s very hard to put aside. If you enjoy short reads with a common theme, this is one for you. I’m happy to recommend this one, and give it 4*.
October 3, 2021
4.5. A wonderful collection of linked short stories which (although not quite as polished) is reminiscent of Donal Ryan’s The Spinning Heart.
November 18, 2021
To describe this book of short stories as delightful and charming would completely miss the vein of grit and real life themes that thread each story. The time is pre and during pandemic Cork; the themes are diverse and include exploring the tensions experienced by refugee and asylum seekers, the everyday issues of loss, loneliness, abuse, LGBQT+ and, randomly but sadly relevant, dog napping. Each story holds a quintessential truth related to the themes, which reveal themselves quickly or slowly taking the reader by surprise. The connections between the inhabitants of Liberty Terrace unfold as the book progresses; time is not smoothly linear, as such, but moves forward. The characters are completely believable and well drawn, their voices reflect Cork, Ireland and beyond. In short I loved this book.
December 15, 2021
‘Liberty Terrace was a row of small red brick houses, all joined together, with front doors that opened right onto the street. There was a green space right across the street, a small park, with a few mature trees dotted here and there. Two larger houses stood alone in mature gardens nearby..’
Liberty Terrace by Madeleine D’Arcy was published October 2021 and is a collection of linked short stories set in a fictional part of Cork City. Now, as many of you know, I am a proud Cork woman, so while reading this collection, I was placing Liberty Terrace in a few different locations that I felt would fit the stories which very much added to my enjoyment of this charming and engaging collection. There is also a handy map at the beginning that provides a visual layout of Liberty Terrace and its residents.
In general I am not a huge reader of the short story, but the instant appeal of Liberty Terrace was obviously the Cork connection but also that all the stories were linked, joined together, just like the row of houses that make up Liberty Terrace itself. Madeleine D’Arcy frames her stories within the period of 2016 and 2020. The characters cross paths at various intervals over the years as their lives move forward in a variety of ways with the Pandemic making an appearance but not in any loud manner.
There are thirteen stories in all, some more affecting than others, but all providing a glimpse behind the front doors of the homes on Liberty Terrace, with the exception of the Census enumerator, who appears in a few stories but lives 2 kms away. I did read that Madeleine D’Arcy had experience working as a Census enumerator and the delayed 2021 Census due to Covid was an inspiration when writing Liberty Terrace.
Quite an ingenious concept, Madeleine D’Arcy really puts personality into all the inhabitants capturing their ups and downs, as the wheels of life keep turning. Some stories are darker than others but the mix provides the perfect balance for all readers to become immersed in the lives of this small community.
With any collection of short stories there are personal favourites and, for me, it was The Silence of the Crows and Human Soup. In just a few pages, Madeleine D’Arcy captures a poignancy, a pain, a hopelessness and a hopefulness. It is an artform in itself to imbue such feeling into so few words, to be able to balance the everyday with the personal sufferings and to really bring to life the mental anguish and the fear that we all inevitably face at some time in our lives.
Liberty Terrace has been described by Danielle McLaughlin, author of The Art of Falling, as ‘intimate, humane and wickedly funny’. It has an energy that encapsulates life in a small community where everyone knows, or thinks they know, everyone else’s business. A very creative idea was the Census enumerator, as her character gains access in to many of the homes, providing a unique insight into a moment in time in the resident’s life.
Liberty Terrace is a very confident collection of short stories that will appeal to many, but in particular to readers who can fully appreciate the mastery required to write in this style. As I turned the final page I almost went in search of Liberty Terrace to see if I might bump into any of the residents and discover what has happened to them since Madeleine D’Arcy left them!
Authentic, original and unobtrusive, Liberty Terrace is a clever and considered collection of short stories and is OUT NOW with Doire Press.
Liberty Terrace by Madeleine D’Arcy was published October 2021 and is a collection of linked short stories set in a fictional part of Cork City. Now, as many of you know, I am a proud Cork woman, so while reading this collection, I was placing Liberty Terrace in a few different locations that I felt would fit the stories which very much added to my enjoyment of this charming and engaging collection. There is also a handy map at the beginning that provides a visual layout of Liberty Terrace and its residents.
In general I am not a huge reader of the short story, but the instant appeal of Liberty Terrace was obviously the Cork connection but also that all the stories were linked, joined together, just like the row of houses that make up Liberty Terrace itself. Madeleine D’Arcy frames her stories within the period of 2016 and 2020. The characters cross paths at various intervals over the years as their lives move forward in a variety of ways with the Pandemic making an appearance but not in any loud manner.
There are thirteen stories in all, some more affecting than others, but all providing a glimpse behind the front doors of the homes on Liberty Terrace, with the exception of the Census enumerator, who appears in a few stories but lives 2 kms away. I did read that Madeleine D’Arcy had experience working as a Census enumerator and the delayed 2021 Census due to Covid was an inspiration when writing Liberty Terrace.
Quite an ingenious concept, Madeleine D’Arcy really puts personality into all the inhabitants capturing their ups and downs, as the wheels of life keep turning. Some stories are darker than others but the mix provides the perfect balance for all readers to become immersed in the lives of this small community.
With any collection of short stories there are personal favourites and, for me, it was The Silence of the Crows and Human Soup. In just a few pages, Madeleine D’Arcy captures a poignancy, a pain, a hopelessness and a hopefulness. It is an artform in itself to imbue such feeling into so few words, to be able to balance the everyday with the personal sufferings and to really bring to life the mental anguish and the fear that we all inevitably face at some time in our lives.
Liberty Terrace has been described by Danielle McLaughlin, author of The Art of Falling, as ‘intimate, humane and wickedly funny’. It has an energy that encapsulates life in a small community where everyone knows, or thinks they know, everyone else’s business. A very creative idea was the Census enumerator, as her character gains access in to many of the homes, providing a unique insight into a moment in time in the resident’s life.
Liberty Terrace is a very confident collection of short stories that will appeal to many, but in particular to readers who can fully appreciate the mastery required to write in this style. As I turned the final page I almost went in search of Liberty Terrace to see if I might bump into any of the residents and discover what has happened to them since Madeleine D’Arcy left them!
Authentic, original and unobtrusive, Liberty Terrace is a clever and considered collection of short stories and is OUT NOW with Doire Press.
December 6, 2021
A collection of short stories such as those found in this book can be a good read to pick up and put down, and if they are extremely good and interconnected, such a book can become a real treat. This book is made up of thirteen excellent stories, and as they are all focused around a small area of Cork city some of the characters appear in more than one story, I found this a really enjoyable reading experience. It covers a time period of 2016 to 2020, so many of the people featured have moved on with their lives, showing a real development such as normally seen in novels. Not that every character is revisited, as that could impose a strict form that would not allow for the many surprises and wonderful twists that happen in these stories. There are references in the later stories to the pandemic, but they are incidental to the story and really reflect the reactions of the various characters to the limitations of the pandemic. I thought the descriptions of the various types of masks that the characters wear were cleverly indicative of their personalities and an interesting reflection on real life. The author of these stories has created a series of interesting tales, each one complete in itself, which deftly introduces characters and their situations in a few words, often including dialogue, and leaves the reader to do some work in terms of working out the implications. These are superbly written stories, and add up to a really good read that I was very pleased to have the opportunity to read and review.
Some of the stories are written in the first person, revealing so much about each character in their situation. A seventeen year old boy tells of his desperate search for somewhere to sleep, and his careful response to the Census Enumerator who turns up at the door. This latter person is the subject of her own story, and turns up again elsewhere to be the recipient of an explanation as to why the residents of a house are changed. There are many touching moments, as people are given another chance in their lives, while there is a real darkness in some stories of desperation and promised revenge. A faded pop star arrives in town to make discoveries. Discoveries of potential betrayals animate some stories, while others revolve around genuine love and loyalty. One of my favourite characters is Deckie Google “A former senior Garda...Though he retired ten years and seven months ago, he’s determined to maintain his standards”. He has a past, he has a present of genuine concern for others, especially in the 2020 situation, and a future of involvement in a daring enterprise. My favourite story is of a refugee who discovers a special tree, and despite everything tends to it like her new life in a grey country which she enlivens with her brightness.
Anyone who has ever tried to write short contemporary stories will appreciate this book as a real achievement, as it carefully balances between sentimentality, drama, the mundane and the surprising. It seems to deal with realistic people in situations that are understandable, featuring challenges that we can all appreciate. I thoroughly recommend this collection of short stories to all admirers of the form, as well as those who are interested in depictions of the strange times in which we live.
Some of the stories are written in the first person, revealing so much about each character in their situation. A seventeen year old boy tells of his desperate search for somewhere to sleep, and his careful response to the Census Enumerator who turns up at the door. This latter person is the subject of her own story, and turns up again elsewhere to be the recipient of an explanation as to why the residents of a house are changed. There are many touching moments, as people are given another chance in their lives, while there is a real darkness in some stories of desperation and promised revenge. A faded pop star arrives in town to make discoveries. Discoveries of potential betrayals animate some stories, while others revolve around genuine love and loyalty. One of my favourite characters is Deckie Google “A former senior Garda...Though he retired ten years and seven months ago, he’s determined to maintain his standards”. He has a past, he has a present of genuine concern for others, especially in the 2020 situation, and a future of involvement in a daring enterprise. My favourite story is of a refugee who discovers a special tree, and despite everything tends to it like her new life in a grey country which she enlivens with her brightness.
Anyone who has ever tried to write short contemporary stories will appreciate this book as a real achievement, as it carefully balances between sentimentality, drama, the mundane and the surprising. It seems to deal with realistic people in situations that are understandable, featuring challenges that we can all appreciate. I thoroughly recommend this collection of short stories to all admirers of the form, as well as those who are interested in depictions of the strange times in which we live.
January 24, 2022
Madeleine D'Arcy had already impressed me with her debut collection "Waiting for the Bullet" also published by Doire Press, and I am so glad that Liberty Terrace more than lived up to my expectations.
As a writer of short stories myself, and a fan of the inter-connected collection, i loved seeing characters recur as cameos or secondary characters in other stories as the life on Liberty Terrace moves from 2016 to the beginning of Covid and on into mid-pandemic 2020. Every glancing remark or passing reference to a previous character reveals more of their secrets and motivations.
This collection is less dark overall than Waiting for the Bullet, but it certainly doesn't shy away from the harsh truths of modern Ireland; our housing crisis, how we treat our vulnerable youth, the loneliness possible in later life, and how individuals battle against odds which seem stacked against them by society. I am thinking in particular of the anguish and isolation of a mother, in Human Soup, losing her daughter slowly to a mysterious and quite possibly malign ideology, compounded by the isolation of Covid living and our increasing dependence upon online validation in the absence of real human interaction.
The opening story To be a Dearbone is another particular favourite,
I highly recommend this collection.
As a writer of short stories myself, and a fan of the inter-connected collection, i loved seeing characters recur as cameos or secondary characters in other stories as the life on Liberty Terrace moves from 2016 to the beginning of Covid and on into mid-pandemic 2020. Every glancing remark or passing reference to a previous character reveals more of their secrets and motivations.
This collection is less dark overall than Waiting for the Bullet, but it certainly doesn't shy away from the harsh truths of modern Ireland; our housing crisis, how we treat our vulnerable youth, the loneliness possible in later life, and how individuals battle against odds which seem stacked against them by society. I am thinking in particular of the anguish and isolation of a mother, in Human Soup, losing her daughter slowly to a mysterious and quite possibly malign ideology, compounded by the isolation of Covid living and our increasing dependence upon online validation in the absence of real human interaction.
The opening story To be a Dearbone is another particular favourite,
I highly recommend this collection.
December 13, 2023
I've been living in Cork since 2021 and I have to say that reading this book filled my heart. So many familiar places, expressions i learnt from locals... And the census night hahaha! Touchy little stories, damn we are all so damaged! And as a crazy dog lover I felt so elated at the end!
I will recommend this book to all my friends around.
Bye bye bye bye ... bye!
I will recommend this book to all my friends around.
Bye bye bye bye ... bye!
November 8, 2021
An excellent collection of interwoven tales from a fictional street. Enjoy this skillfully composed journey from dark to light with characters so vividly portrayed you will feel you have already met.
November 9, 2021
I loved this story collection, especially since it transported me to Ireland during a time when Covid prevents me from transporting myself there. As an unnamed census taker gathers data on the surface of Liberty Terrace, these edgy, funny, poignant stories show us the underbelly.
April 6, 2022
A great collection of short stories based in a fictitious terrace in Cork. Sad, bittersweet, heartening , hopeful and quirky. Although each story is contained there is overlap and connections between some of the characters making the book complete.
May 24, 2022
Wonderful understated short stories of the various residents of townhomes of a small neighborhood in Cork City.
February 11, 2024
cark bai (why am I crying so loud)
April 10, 2025
Such a heartwarming read
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews