'Coco's Secret' by Niamh Greene

Every so often it's nice to read a good old 'happily ever after' story to escape the realities of every day living. After all, isn't that what fiction is all about? Escaping to another world for a period of time, absorbing yourself totally in the lives of the characters only coming up for air when meal times/toilet breaks/journey's end beckons. Niamh Greene's new novel Coco's Secret is exactly that- a feel good escapist happy-ever-after story that wraps all the loose ends neatly leaving every character pleased with their outcome.

         
Coco, named after her mother's heroine Coco Chanel, is thirty-something, awkward, un-stylish and living with her grandmother after her boyfriend left to move to New Zealand. In fact she is everything that does not come to mind when you think of the name 'Coco'. After losing her mother as a young teenager, never having known her father, she has grown up with her loving grandmother Ruth and her best friend Cat. Working in the family antiques shop, she is a home bird, satisfied living in a provincial town and attending auctions to add to the shop stock. It is at one of these auctions that she unwittingly makes a purchase that is to change her life. Encouraged by her family and friends to follow her instincts, it is a find that takes her out of her comfort zone and allows her to 'find herself', climaxing in a truly moving end.


Due for publishing on the 15th August, Coco's Secret is Niamh Greene's sixth novel and it is really a great story. A little of everything can be found in here - parents with teenager problems, OAP's experiencing new found love, long kept secrets finally coming into the open plus a good dollop of good humour. Smiling quietly to myself as I read the last few pages on the Dart I was almost tempted to hand it to the lady sitting across from me. Because that's the kind of book it is, one that makes you feel good and that anyone would enjoy reading. As it turned out I brought it home but handed it straight to someone as I came in the door, "read this, you'll like it" I said confidently.

Coco's Secret is published by Penguin Ireland on 15th August. http://www.penguin.ie/ 

Opera in the Open - August 2013 in Dublin's Civic Offices

Following on from my post about the Opera in the Park that was held in Merrion Square, August sees the launch of Opera in the Open. These are held in the amphitheatre that is behind the Dublin Civic Offices on the Quays at the end of Temple Bar. Get there early because the concrete amphitheatre seats fill up quickly but there is a large grass area around where you can sit with your blanket or deckchair. The lovely thing about watching opera this way is you can wander in and out as you like popping in during your lunch hour or after a shopping visit. It's free, and depending on the weather it's just a lovely way to spend a couple of hours in the city.

Summer Reading- Red Sky in Morning, The Herbalist, The Captain's Table

The heatwave is still here even if it is a bit overcast. Step outside and the air is warm and fuggy and everyone says that we need a bit of rain to clear the air. We love to discuss the weather and a prolonged summer heatwave and a real drought has caused much material for discussion. What the weather doesn't encourage is indoor keyboard tapping. The review rate has dwindled to very low as the appeal of lolling in the garden instead has risen to very high. Despite this we all like to have recommendations of what to read as we lie in the sun so here are my three books for backgarden/ beach/ poolside reading.

 

Red Sky in Morning by Paul Lynch caused much excitement on publication. And not without cause. It is a thoughtful and subtle piece of work with a moving and tragic close. The tale of Coll Coyle and his treatment at the hand of his landlord's son is one that escalates out of control. A small act leads to a large event and leads to his journey away from his wife and family in Donegal to America, to join those who chipped away at the rocks to lay the railway lines. But Coll can never escape his original act and when we find what this was it makes the tale all the more tragic.

This is Paul Lynch's first novel. A journalist and former film critic for the Sunday Tribune, the novel has a cinematic and reportage feel to it as the reader is taken through Coll's experience. There is no excess language here- it is roughly hewn and gets straight to the core of the story. It is one that lingers in your mind after the reading as you dwell on the escalation of events that occurred and the impact of real events on real people at that time.

Red Sky in Morning is published by Quercus Books http://www.quercusbooks.co.uk/

 

The Herbalist by Niamh Boyce has gone straight into the Irish Bestseller Charts after publication in early June. Another first novel this story is one that gives the reader a real feel for small town gossip in 1930s rural Ireland. Opening with the arrival in the town of the herbalist to sell his wares in the market place, his effect on the womenfolk, in particular one young girl Emily, will cause disruption and heartache, suspicion and spite. Accepting an unwanted pregnancy for one is balanced with loss of a child and inability to conceive again for another. The attitudes of a small town towards a woman who lives her life as she wishes rather than following the conventional rules of society make her an outsider. In fact, despite the herbalist being the catalyst for this story it is the women whom we are following and the ways that they make life so awkward for each other.

Niamh Boyce won the 2012 Hennessy XO Award for Irish Writing and her debut here is a confident piece of writing telling an unusual and interesting tale. The characters are strong and believable set in a period of Irish history that was restricting and claustrophobic for women.

The Herbalist is published by Penguin Ireland http://www.penguin.ie/

  

Muriel Bolger's new book The Captain's Table is a great story! I wasn't sure to start with; set on a cruise ship- is this really my cup of tea? But despite my initial reservations I raced through this fun lighthearted story of Jenny who has left her well-known Irish husband who is in the early days of  a scandal to escape for a couple of weeks on a Mediterranean cruise. Gathering together with other solo passengers and a few other's, one being a colourful newly-wed gay couple we are initiated into the daily goings on of a cruise ship. The Captain is a charmer but has a troubled wife at home. He explains the staff manner of bumping hips and knocking elbows to greet passengers to ensure they do not get any germs that would affect the smooth running of the ship. I spent several days sharing this nugget of interesting information with friends!

The passengers all have their own interesting stories and the well rounded characters each quickly emerge to be followed as they quickly make friends and reveal their own reason for taking a cruise, which seems to be shared much more quickly on the decks of the ship with it's feeling that fellow passengers may never be encountered again. The author is a huge fan of cruises and her knowledge and experience comes through in the detail and credibility of the story. Great fun, good reading and a great choice for summer reading.  

The Captain's Table is published by Hachette Ireland https://www.hachette.ie/ 

Sick of the Heat? Rent a Movie-Top Summer DVD's

Come on - you can tell me. You're feeling a bit hot and would rather come in out of the sun. There now- now you've said don't you feel better? We are all loving this most un-Irish heatwave but at some stage you have to come in out of the sun. Saturdays spent sunning ourselves in the garden are all very nice but two and three weekends on the trot? Here now, this is a bit much!

Well despite rumours that Xtravision was closing down, they are still crawling along and at the moment are running a most excellent Summer Pass offer of one months rental of  DVD's and games for €20 for 31 days from purchase. You can rent two at a time and the last date for sign up is the 31st July. Rental is for one night only but you can renew it. I know everyone streams/ downloads movies now but for the price of less than four regular rentals and a guaranteed good quality movie I think this is a really good offer. Details here http://www.xtra-vision.ie/summer-pass


Wanting to make the most of my 'Summer Pass' I have made a list of the movies I want to rent between now and the end of August. Long term plan looks like this;
-go to work
-come home to guaranteed sunny evening
-quick supper of no more than 10 minutes prep
-retire to sitting room to watch rented DVD picked up by kids from list during the day (sure what else have they to do all day with such stupidly long holidays?)

My list at present is looking like this- recommendations accepted of movies available from Xtravision or warnings that a film on the planner is not worth my planned evening's time.
1. Good Vibrations
2. Side Effects
3.Welcome to the Punch (?? maybe/maybe not)
4. Arbitrage
5. The Assassination (Bruce Willis- could be crap?)
6. Stoker
7. Oz the Great and Powerful
8. Cloud Atlas
9. Mama (too scary? I'm a wuzz)
10. Hitchcock (had poor reviews but worth a look?)
11. Give it a Year
12. Warm Bodies
13. The Last Stand (Schwarzenegger- give it a look)
14. What Richard Did
15. The Impossible
16. Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
17. Anna Karenina (strong dislike of pout-ey Knieghtly but interested to see how the book was adapted)
18. Lincoln (heavy going but won so many awards feel obliged to give it a go)
19. Ill Manners
20. Trance
21. Seven Psychopaths
22. Ted
23. Pitch Perfect (recommended by my daughters)
24. Marvel Avengers
25. Warrior

Enjoy the rest of this fabulous weather!