Beth's Review: The Largest Baby In Ireland After The Famine by Anne Barnett
Author Provided Copy
Publisher: Mereo Books
Released: September 29th 2015
Genre: Historical Fiction
Length: 296 pages
Format: Hardback, Paperback
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Synopsis
Every Sunday the men met at the bridge. Felix Campbell was there with a couple dozen men. They were all shapes and sizes, ages and wits. What they shared was history, what they knew was their place. Farmers all, some creating the impression that they lived a more urgent and passionate existence in the fighting fields of France, than in the potato fields of reality. Felix was smoking and talking when the bridge-gatherers spotted a figure moving over the brae. The walker was a woman, most certainly, but who? Women's strict observance of the day of rest left little time for gallivanting. And where could a stranger be heading when there was nowhere she could go that the men wouldn't have known about? Then the woman appeared. She was all colour and sway, and as far away as imaginable from the local women. Pale, pale skin and strong dark auburn hair falling free to large wide hips. She wore a purple shawl. That night Felix, a bachelor, aged 43, living in the house he was born in, dreamt of purple. Purple in the shape of a woman
Three Boundless Stars
Anne Barnett takes readers back to a time where all the local news is shared by word of mouth, and in this town, all the men go to the bridge on a Sunday to share the news. Back in a time when women don’t bother with leaving their chores behind to learn the news first hand, instead wait hear the gossip from each other.
A stranger is noticed by the men and the town gossip starts flying as for the women promptly share their opinions and judgments. Each character learns a little more about themselves as they seek to learn more about this stranger.
Anne Barrett takes us through the town of Ballymully and introduces us to its townspeople as we learn about their past. The Largest Baby in Ireland is well written, however the unique writing style and vocabulary used in this novel are simply not my taste.
I give The Largest Baby in Ireland 3 stars for the excellent writing, but it’s just not for me.