Where in West Cork is Skull? How could Fidel Castro send cigars to Ireland in 1952? How could Pompidou be a former French president in 1959? How was Lady Chatterley's Lover available to an Irish teenager in 1959?

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8 years ago
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Richard 1. why don't you search for Skull on a google map ?
2. In a box by post.
3. because it is fiction
4. because it was in stores

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Emily It wasn't even the historical inaccuracies that most bothered me most; I couldn't get past his inauthentic portrayal of 7 year olds. Both in thought and spoken words, Cyril and Julian were nowhere near the age of 7. Has the author ever met a 7 year old?

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Micklemas Why did an openly hostile set of questions inspire 3 'likes'?

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tommy keegan My father smoked cuban cigars in the late 50s . He also had Lady Chatterleys Lover in 1960. In Dublin everything was available. Still is. Tommy Keegan.

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Margot To the people judging this novel for historical inaccuracies... art has the freedom to play with reality. This is story telling. The emotional impact of this novel is one I will never forget. Here lies the power of this fantastic novel. Why don’t you read history books and encyclopedias instead?!

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Kathy Schull or Skull is a town in County Cork, Ireland. The name derives from a medieval monastic school, of which no trace remains. Located on the southwest coast, in West Cork, the village is situated in a scenic and remote location, dominated by Mount Gabriel. It has a sheltered harbour, used for recreational boating.

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Paul Butler These aren't the only problems with the book. In one of the early chapters, Cyril sees Charles reading "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" by Solzhenitsyn. The chapter recounts events in 1952.
Quite a feat for Charles since Solzhenitsyn didn't publish the book until 1962. Either this is monstrously sloppy writing and editing or the author doesn't care and is only searching for effect.
Very disappointing.

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Barbara Lady Chatterley's Lover was published in English some time in the 1940s, and while it certainly would not have been available in mainstream books stores in Ireland or England in 1959, it was available throughout Europe and probably in private and black market venues in Ireland and England. Also remember that Julian was the one who said he had read it, which may simply have been a boast.

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Jennifer 1. Could Skull actually be Schull?
2. A boo-boo or giving the character the boo-boo of mistaken remembrance? Or the blackmarket?
3. A boo-boo or again giving the character the boo-boo of mistaken remembrance?
4. The blackmarket.

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Brian Gluckman On the second question, the correct answer is: he couldn't. Castro spent the first half of '52 in destitute poverty, organizing his first attempt at a revolution, and was unknown outside of Cuba at the time. He spent the second half of '52 in a jail cell, having failed in his attempt to overthrow the government. Castro as we think of him--that is, the authoritarian leader of Cuba--didn't really emerge until the late 50s. This is one of a couple of small details that should have been caught in the editing process (at one point, a character hums a song that wasn't written for three more years; there's also a reference to capital punishment being outlawed by 1952, which certainly would be a surprise to the last person who was hung in the country in '54, since it wasn't actually banned until '62).

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