I enjoyed this, but after some years since reading it, I don't recall enough to discuss it. ( )

I'm not much at writing book reviews, but I'd like to say a few words about this collection of four stories.

Growing up, my grandmother, and the rest of my mom's side, lived in a very small community in far northern Wisconsin, in and around the town of Washburn.

Reading these stories drew me back to the houses and farms and people of that area, where everyone knew everyone else's children, even us, the grandkids, the summer visitors. Everyone knew someone in the wars. Everyone went to church and everyone shared stories -- different from these, naturally, but not quite so much.

I read this book straight through, this evening, while it rained here in Chicago, and now, were I less responsible, I'd be on the road, 8 hours to go. ( )

This is a collection intriguing vignettes on 20th-century Ireland. While each of the stories (there are four) stand alone, the sense is that they are all somehow connected in place and time. The author weaves a subtle, suggestive web of guilt, longing, wickedness and regret. Well worth reading. ( )