Well, Tartlets, we’re rounding out a year of reading by heading back to Ballybucklebo with another book in the Irish Country Novels series: An Irish Country Family.
And, I’m happy to report that I enjoyed this book much more than the last one in the series. Author Patrick Taylor mercifully toned down the in-depth discussion of Irish politics, and while Barry and Sue’s infertility issues continue to plague them, that plotline, too, has been greatly reduced.
Thank goodness.
An Irish Country Family picks up soon after An Irish Country Cottage leaves off. Part of the book is set in 1969 Ballybucklebo with the usual cast of characters, and the other part is made up of flashbacks to 1963 Belfast, which follows a young(er) Dr. Barry Laverty as he begins his medical internship at the city hospital.
Taylor often switches between two timelines in his novels, but the flashbacks usually feature the adventures of a young Dr. O’Reilly, the senior doctor and main star of the Irish Country Novels. So, it was a nice change to see a bit of Barry’s past through his own eyes and memories.
Barry interned at an exciting time, when defibrillators were just being invented and used on the scene for medical emergencies, so it was pretty cool to see the birth of an invention that’s so common today. I had no idea this major life-saving technique wasn’t available until the 1960s. Ah, the things we take for granted these days!
It was also fun seeing how Barry got his start in medicine and how/why he decided to become a general practitioner. And, as usual with Barry in the pre-Sue years, there’s some relationship strife since, while Barry’s great with patients, he’s not so good with the ladies. (Nice guys don’t win. Until they do.)
Overall, nothing truly shocking is revealed about Barry’s past since, well, he was the same sweet and empathetic young man in 1963 that he is in 1969, but it’s still nice to have flashbacks to a different character’s life in the series.
And, as mentioned earlier, the book as a whole is way less fraught with political tension, despite 1969 being a tumultuous year in Ireland. Taylor paints a Ballybucklebo that represents what we should have seen in that time period instead: everyone coming together, despite political and religious differences, hoping to set a good example for others around them.
An Irish Country Family is a great return to the easy-going, friendly style of the earlier Irish Country Novels. In the 1969 timeline, it’s business as usual in Ballybucklebo, with suppport for various people and events that will bolster the entire community, and, of course, some kerfuffle going on that O’Reilly and his cohorts need to put a firm but kindly end to.
Although some sadness is peppered in towards the end of the novel, An Irish Country Family finishes strong: problems are resolved, people are happy, and life winds merrily on toward the next book (which has already published!). If you’ve been reading the Irish Country Novels, you definitely don’t want to miss any installment in this wonderful series.
How many of you have started reading the Irish Country Novels since I started talking about them on the Tart?
