Wild Decembers

Starred review from April 3, 2000
The wild Irish humor and savage Irish melancholy that are both legend and stereotype receive exemplary treatment in this powerful novel by the prolific O'Brien (Down by the River; Time and Tide; Lantern Slides). Scenic Western Ireland is the setting for her tale, and particularly Cloontha, a village snug against a mountain where "lust for a lip of land" has set "warring sons of warring sons" against one another for centuries. Bachelor Joseph Brennan and his young sister, Breege, have never left their family acreage; Mick Bugler is newly arrived from Australia to claim adjacent land inherited from an uncle. They meet amicably when Mick's tractor gets stuck in Joe's farmyard, but their budding friendship soon sours, even as Breege, secretly smitten with the handsome newcomer, tries to pacify her irascible brother. The tractor, a novelty in the area, is dubbed Dino the Dinosaur by one of a notorious pair of sisters, Reena, "a child of nature," and Rita, a conniving slut. Their seduction of Bugler in order to obtain a free load of hay is exuberantly erotic, but this episode does not deflect the reader's woeful sense of foreboding about the growing conflict over territory between Joe and Bugler. Bugler admits he has a fiancee in Australia, so Joe is increasingly distraught as he senses and fears the halting romance between his innocent sister and the man he considers "the despoiler." The climate, the landscape, the history, all so deeply ingrained in the native Irish psyche, underscore the suspense. Remaining unflinchingly true to her characters, O'Brien allows the inevitable tragedy to play itself out, evincing the pity and terror of classical drama. 5-city author tour.

Starred review from April 3, 2000
The poetic telling of this entertaining yet tragic tale, set in the countryside of Western Ireland, is rendered with such lush detail that you can practically smell the peat hearth. O'Brien's novel chronicles the lives of Joseph Brennan and his beloved sister Breege, lives that are profoundly changed by the arrival of a new neighbor, an Aussie named Mick Bugler. He has moved to Ireland to claim his inheritanceDland that Joseph considers part of "my mountain." The novelty of the newcomer soon wears off and gives way to feelings of confusion and love on Breege's endDand of paranoid suspicion on the part of JosephDas echoes of an ancient blood feud resonate into madness. Bertish's voice perfectly complements the text; she tells the tale as if it were her own. And indeed, when the narration switches from first person to third, her voice becomes interchangeable with Breege's. Able to glean subtleties of accent and nuance of cadence, Bertish's talent renders all of the characters utterly convincing. Based on the Houghton Mifflin hardcover (Forecasts, Jan. 31).