(Subdue the Shelf) An Irish Country Girl / Patrick Taylor - 3***

[Book Concierge]

An Irish Country Girl – Patrick Taylor
Digital audiobook performed by Terry Donnelly
3***

On Christmas Eve, Mrs Kinky Kincaid, Dr O’Reilly’s unflappable housekeeper, welcomes a group of young carolers into the doctor’s house to warm up. While they enjoy a hot drink and mince pies, Mrs Kincaid tells them a tale of her girlhood. Thus, this book is a bit of a departure from the series. Rather than deal with the residents of Ballybucklebo in Northern Ireland, during the mid-1960s, this book is set in County Cork in 1920, when Maureen O’Hanlon sees the St Stephen’s day ghost not once but twice.

Kinky (nee Maureen O’Hanlon) is a marvelous character and her “sight” has been noted in previous books. This story shines the spotlight on Kinky and how she came to find her gift. It’s full of Irish mythology, the warmth of family and the dreams of young love. Taylor has written a very atmospheric book. I could practically feel the cold of a snowy day, smell the smoke of a welcoming fire, and hear the banshee’s wails or the eerie sounds of bagpipes.

Terry Donnelly does a marvelous job of performing the audiobook. I was glad to hear the Irish words properly pronounced, for even with the glossary at the back of the book, I would NOT have been hearing them correctly in my head were I reading the text.


LINK to my review