The Story of Lucy Gault
Registered by 4evagreen of Furness Vale, Derbyshire United Kingdom on 9/25/2015
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
2 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by 4evagreen from Furness Vale, Derbyshire United Kingdom on Friday, September 25, 2015
Picked up in a Healthy Planet shop.
This novel spans some 70 years and looks at how the future is shaped by "the sins of the past". Yet in reality the 'sins' are minor compared with the punishment that they engender.
The story begins in the summer of 1921, in County Cork, when local Protestant landowners were subject to attacks by members of the IRA in their battle against the British Army as they sought independence. Isolated farmhouses owned by Anglo-Irish families were set on fire in an attempt to drive their owners out of their homes and Ireland altogether.
On the whole I found this a really well written novel but in particular I found the middle section, which deals with Lucy's love scenes with Ralph, very poignant. Every sentence they speak has a "not" or a "never" in it: "I never want to go." "I could never not love you." When Ralph marries, he never tells his wife about Lucy, and when her father returns, they don't talk of her loss. As a child, Lucy learns deaf-and-dumb language from a fisherman, and that's what these characters speak in.
This is a novel that centres around guilt, both personal and political. How decisions and policies can have unforeseen ramifications. Both Horahan and the Gaults are victims of Ireland's 'Troubles', the Irish boy brought up to become a revolutionary and the Protestant family who were the intended victims, each then become metaphors for colonialism.
The story begins in the summer of 1921, in County Cork, when local Protestant landowners were subject to attacks by members of the IRA in their battle against the British Army as they sought independence. Isolated farmhouses owned by Anglo-Irish families were set on fire in an attempt to drive their owners out of their homes and Ireland altogether.
On the whole I found this a really well written novel but in particular I found the middle section, which deals with Lucy's love scenes with Ralph, very poignant. Every sentence they speak has a "not" or a "never" in it: "I never want to go." "I could never not love you." When Ralph marries, he never tells his wife about Lucy, and when her father returns, they don't talk of her loss. As a child, Lucy learns deaf-and-dumb language from a fisherman, and that's what these characters speak in.
This is a novel that centres around guilt, both personal and political. How decisions and policies can have unforeseen ramifications. Both Horahan and the Gaults are victims of Ireland's 'Troubles', the Irish boy brought up to become a revolutionary and the Protestant family who were the intended victims, each then become metaphors for colonialism.
Going out as part of a Wishlist Tag thread. Enjoy!
Journal Entry 4 by kingfan30 at Somewhere in Lincs 🤷♂️, Lincolnshire United Kingdom on Wednesday, July 24, 2019
Thanks for the tag 😊
7 Sep 2020 - If you are after a light uplifting story this probably isn’t the book for you. It’s only a small book and yet it took me a week to read, it packs a lot in spanning the life of Lucy. It’s a sad tale full of guilt and lost love. I found the part where her parents left the country a little unbelievable, surely they should of searched further a field and not just taken it as red she had drowned, and also to not contact anyone back home for so many years. That said there was something about the story that kept me reading.
7 Sep 2020 - If you are after a light uplifting story this probably isn’t the book for you. It’s only a small book and yet it took me a week to read, it packs a lot in spanning the life of Lucy. It’s a sad tale full of guilt and lost love. I found the part where her parents left the country a little unbelievable, surely they should of searched further a field and not just taken it as red she had drowned, and also to not contact anyone back home for so many years. That said there was something about the story that kept me reading.
Journal Entry 5 by kingfan30 at Telephone Box ☎️ in Burton Coggles, Lincolnshire United Kingdom on Saturday, September 12, 2020
Released 3 yrs ago (9/12/2020 UTC) at Telephone Box ☎️ in Burton Coggles, Lincolnshire United Kingdom
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
Left at the telephone box library for someone else to enjoy
