Customer Reviews

Bold Sons of Erin : A Novel of Suspense

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Owen Parry continues his Able Jones series with another book that gives a real sense of time, place and people. This time the place is Able's beloved hometown in the Pensylvania coal fields which turns out to be stranger than anywhere his travels have taken him so far. Once again the author gives us thumbnail sketches of historical figures. This novel has strong gothic elements, which were, for me, the least interesting part of the book. In additon to solving murders which nobody wants solved and working from limited information Able has to deal with his wife and son, who are changing in ways he did not anticipate. He also has to defend his staunch Methodism against enticing secular influences. Able is one hero aware of his own limitations...at least partially. He does not take himself too seriously...in the end. The book ends with a description of the slaughter of federal troops at the battle of Fredericksburg, which is, by itself, reason enough to buy this book.

Owen Parry has given us another gem in his series of Civil War mysteries, and this one is an emerald.

*Bold Sons of Erin* takes us to the anthracite coal region of Pottsville, Pennsylvania, the home of our hero, Major Abel Jones (and a region where our author has family roots as well). In *Bold Sons* we meet the Irish miners who settled in the area, learn a bit about their hard lives, and consider both those who fought for liberty wearing Union blue and those who fought for their liberty to stay out of the war. They battled prejudice and the company bosses to eke out a living, and many served valiantly for their new country and died on the fields of Antietam and Fredericksburg. The author gives us much in *Bold Sons* to think about.

Parry paints a detailed picture of the coal towns and the region of central and eastern Pennsylvania in the early 1860s. We see the streets and shops and hear the voices and sounds. As other books in the series have done for other settings, *Bold Sons* helps us to imagine what life might have been like in that place and time. That's one of my favorite things about the series and about this book as well.

The mystery of the murder -- or rather, murders -- at the heart of the book grabs our attention at the very beginning, as the blade of a shovel hits the wood of a coffin, and the story develops wonderfully around it. In many passages the action is vivid. Again as in the previous four novels in the series, Parry's characters are rich and colorful and his writing makes me Irish green with envy. In every respect, *Bold Sons of Erin* is a very worthy fifth book in the Abel Jones series. As a fan of the series, I enthusiastically recommend it.

After a recent discussion of James M. McPherson's "Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era", several students asked me what other books I would recommend in order to get a sense of what 19th century Americans were like. Their primary interest is in understanding why people responded as they did to the Civil War. Among those titles I suggested were several novels. Owen Parry's "Abel Jones" series was in that group. The latest addition to the Jones saga, "Bold Sons of Erin" goes a long way toward helping today's reader understand the great divergence in attitudes and motivations of those living in the United States during the Civil War. They were not all singing "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" by any means.

I think this author is doing us a great service by exploring the complex nature of our society in that period. His curiosity is contagious and his readers are the beneficiaries of his beautifully written stories that probe, investigate, and explain the Americans of the 1860s. I admire Owen Parry's skill in every aspect of his plot development, with his characters wonderfully drawn, and the suspense building to an exciting and satisfying climax. Having said that, I have to say that I enjoy his marvelous descriptions of Civil War combat even more.

The last chapter of this book describes the surreal quality of the repeated gallant assaults of Ambrose Burnsides' Union army against Lee's Confederates at Fredericksburg, Virginia on December 13, 1862. As seen through the eyes of Major Abel Jones, it was a day all Americans should never forget. He is a wonderful observer of the American scene and I will always be grateful that Owen Parry is telling his story.

Abel Jones, a Welsh immigrant, is a soldier for the Union Army, seriously wounded during the early campaigns of the Civil War. Sent home to Pennsylvania to recuperate and rejoin his family, he is soon called back to service, this time in an investigative capacity. His high moral standards and his trustworthiness have brought him to the attention of President Lincoln, who has asked him to investigate the murder of General Carl Stone so that Lincoln and the country can avoid an international incident. The Germans and Russians are clamoring to know who killed Gen. Stone in Heckschersville, a community of Irish miners, and why. Gen. Stone has been recruiting Irish miners in Pennsylvania to the Union cause, and an Irishman has confessed to killing Gen. Stone.

The Civil War is raging, and local boys are dying. Wealthy mine owners are building personal empires while their workers endure abominable conditions. Revolutionaries and republicans are vying for political influence, churches and parishioners are trying to reconcile Darwin's Origin of the Species with their traditional beliefs, and women who have been the sole support of their families during wartime are being forced into subordinate roles when their men return from war. All these issues, well researched, play a part in the drama and add realism to the novel. Vivid personal glimpses of Lincoln, Sec. of State Seward, and other historical personages, combined with personal observations by Abel Jones, also develop a sense that these are real people engaged in real problems, subject to real, personal limitations.

This is not strictly a historical mystery, however. A strong sense of Gothic melodrama infuses the action, and a number of scenes are positively macabre. A gruesomely described exhumation, a visit to a madhouse, and necrophilia, incest, cannibalism, and bloody self-torture play as much of a role in the novel as accurate historical detail. These bizarre details distract the reader from the complex history, some of which, such as the role of labor activists (known as Mollie Maguires), is hinted at but never fully developed, making the author's focus feel a bit fuzzy. Parry is a fascinating writer, however, with many strong gifts. His vibrant characters, dialogue, unpredictable plot twists, and breath-taking narrative of the Battle of Fredericksburg make the reader hope he will find a balance between the excitement of real historical events and the sometimes disturbing melodrama he often creates to accompany them. Mary Whipple

"Bold Sons of Erin" is the fifth in a series of mystery novels set in the American Civil War. Owen's protagonist is Major Abel Jones: Union Army sleuth, fervent Welsh immigrant and believer in the American dream, veteran sergeant-major in the British Indian Army, Methodist teetotler, reformed hell-raiser, devoted husband, natural and adoptive father. This story is set in the Pennsylvania anthracite coal country (that Parry loves and understands so well), where Abel Jones searches for the murderer of a Union brigadier general, another immigrant with an interesting past. In the process, Jones encounters Irish immigrant coal miners and a failed priest, intent in their own ways upon frustrating his efforts. There are the usual twists and turns of plot along the way, and a fascinating look at mid-19th Century social and political history. Familiar characters re-appear, and interesting new ones emerge from the story. For experienced Owen Parry fans, this book will not disappoint.

For those benighted ones not yet familiar with his work, I strongly suggest this latest effort; but, better yet, start at the beginning with "Faded Coat of Blue" and work happily through the series. You need have no particular interest in the American Civil War, per se, but you will learn a lot. What IS needed is an appreciation of a first-rate novelist at work: working hard, teaching and having fun. Yet like all truly talented novelists, Parry is more that a mere story-teller. He is a social philosopher, a poet of the human spirit, an historian of the American immigrant experience, a wonderful conjuror of words and images, a delightfully mischevious chronicler of European tribal ethnic prejudice and slurs, and an optimist of the first water. He is a master of dialect, and he is getting better at it with each book.

If you find yourself re-reading whole passages in order to delight in and absorb Parry's imagery and use of language and telling insights into human nature, then you will have gotten the whole point of his work. Enjoy!

Owen Parry's books get better with each novel. The suspense is good, the mystery is well handled. His character of Jimmy Malloy is priceless and unlike one reviewer's comments, Mr. Parry (not Perry, that's an Irish name) is even handed and speaking from a 19th century perspective). I would only have several minor nits with it: The German used has occassional grammatical errors; there is no Welsh. A man of Abel Jones' background coming from Merthyr would have spoken Welsh. Why don't he and his wife speak in Welsh in front of the workers rather than go to another room? He also comments on the baroness being from "Estland" (Estonia) and then commenting about the German barons' treatment of the Slavs. The Estonians are Finns, not slavs.

You cannot read these books fast. There is a lot of excellent imbedded wisdom. I think every fundamentalist who reads his Bible with blinders on should read the section when Malloy talks about Darwin and the creation story.

In earlier works you get a very real sense of what Washington and London were like in these days. Here you get a very real sense of the coal mines and Fredericksburg (where I live and work as a volunteer at our Civil War parks) after the Union occupation.

I thought that Parry's previous book was not particularly good, and stated in my review that I would try this one when it came out. I am glad that I did, because Parry is back to his usual high level of historical fiction writing. The story involves the efforts of protagonist, Major Abel Jones, to solve the murder of a Union general in the Pennsylvania coal country. The plot twists and turns, the historical details are accurate and quality of writing is excellent. One aspect that I enjoyed immensely is the character development of Jones. By admission, he is a staunch Methodist, but struggles to resolve the realities of life with the strict tenets of his religion. Reading the entire series makes this internal struggle more interesting. We also get to know Jones' family much better. Parry has given us another good effort.

Owen Parry's latest installment in the Abel Jones series is just as moving, disturbing and eye opening as the first four novels. His sensitive and insightful portrayal of immigrants and their part in the United States of the the 1860's is absolutely dynamic, drawing the reader into a corner of our history too often ignored in the history books.
In his latest, The Bold Sons of Erin, Mr. Parry returns to the plight of the poor Irish laborers, this time in the coal mines just outside of Pottersville, the home town of the hero, Abel Jones. Abel has been asked to investigate the grisly murder of a mysterious Union general. His encounters with the Irish, the German, his fellow Welsh, and the most confounding race of all, the politicians, require all his faculties as a soldier and a Methodist as he sorts through a maze of violence, greed, racism and deadly passions.
His encounters with his wife are no walk in the park either. The tension between his old fashioned morality and her modern sensibilities make for some of the funniest scenes in the book. Of course the funniest scenes of the book are those with the irrepresible Irishman Jimmy Molloy, who forces his help on Abel Jones in an attempt to escape some of his own marriage woes.
A bittersweet and haunting novel with one of the most well drawn protaganists in Civil War fiction, I loved every page and recommend it whole-heartedly.

A Union general recruiting among the Irish coal miners in Pennsylvania is dead. The confessed killer is also dead. But Major Abel Jones believes otherwise, convinced that the clannish Irish miners, violently opposed to the Civil War and emancipation, have hidden the killer. But when Jones opens the casket of the supposed murderer, and instead finds the body of a woman, he finds himself in a tangled web of political and social hatred and rivalries.

I say nothing new by stating that the central draw of Owen Parry's "Abel Jones" series is the beautifully developed character of Jones. "Bold Sons of Erin", the fifth entry in the series, displays that strength of character spectacularly. Jones for the most part remains the stiff, snotty, but honest Welsh Methodist we know and love, spouting off his low opinions of Irish Catholics, and his mixed views on everyone else. However, Jones experiences a great deal of growth, not only pursuing a murderer, but dealing with personal battles on the home front. His adventures have taken him from home. His wife Mary, while still loyal and understanding, is slowly losing patience with his sense of duty. His young son doesn't know him well. The young girl he has adopted has created resentment. And finally, when Mary's uncle dies, he leaves the Jones' with a great deal of wealth, and Abel with a horrible secret about his wife. Jones frequently finds himself reexamining his views of the world as the truths he has clung to are challenged by reality.

While set during the Civil War, Parry only brings that event to the foreground when necessary and appropriate. Jones is not Forrest Gump, miraculously present for every important event. He recounts witnessing Antietam early in the book, and gives us a very bloody and heartfelt description of the atrocity of Fredericksburg at the close of the novel. Jones works directly for Abraham Lincoln, and so meets with the president on one occasion. Parry's is more interested in the social ramifications and political maneuvering of the War than with the military aspects. Thus, Jones must struggle with resentful Irish violently opposed to the draft (even as the Irish brigade distinguishes itself), consumed by the superstitions of the old country; the loyal German immigrants whose importance to the Union effort cannot be understated, even as some of them have revolutionary tendencies; and the mysterious role of Russia, the only major European power to support the North. He also finds himself with the shifting social fabric of his own community, including his wife's growing independence.

The mystery itself is one of the best of the series, as Parry is very careful to weave a variety of plot lines into a nice chilling romp. Grotesque and violent imagery abounds, as Jones plumbs the mystery of the murdered general. As is often the case with a good mystery, red herrings abound, as matters that Jones initially believes important prove incidental, and trivial matters are the key to affairs. However, the truth of the matter is, sharing company with Jones is more than enough to keep a novel going. A well-constructed mystery is a bonus.

Parry continues to weave satisfying books. Sometimes, he even achieves a near-greatness. While I'm not sure what the future holds, Parry drops hints that there are plenty more adventures for Jones even after the Civil War. So as far as I am concerned, Parry can keep this series going as long as he wants.

This is the fifth book in the Abel Jones series, written by Owen Parry, who to my mind is approaching the status of a national treasure. For the uninitiated, Jones is a Welshman who served in Queen Victoria's army in the 1850's, was a sergeant, and saw considerable combat, especially in the Sepoy Rebellion (1857). After many experiences, he made his way to America with a wife and child, swearing to never fight again, only to be confronted with something he can't ignore or sit out: a war to free the slaves. Jones, you see, is very religious, and can't abide slavery; he must, therefore, enlist and use his soldiering skills to do his part in that institution's demise. Wounded at First Bull Run in the leg, so that he can't run or even walk without a cane, he is transferred to more indistinct duties. Instead of clerking somewhere, he's a sort of ad hoc investigator for the Union army, which sets the scene for a wonderful series of private eye novels disguised in a Civil War uniform.

In this, the fifth installment, Jones is sent to coal country in Pennsylvania to discover who murdered a Union general who had been sent there to recruit new soldiers from among the Irish coal miners. The Irish are uninterested, many of them, in fighting for the Union with the goal of freeing the slaves, who many of the Irish see as potential rivals for the menial jobs that those Irishmen now hold down. The supposed killer of the General is a local Irish coal miner, who confessed and then conveniently caught cholera and died, out of cholera season. Jones, however, is not convinced the man is dead, and digs up his grave, to view the body. Instead of the dead man, however, the coffin is inhabited by a young woman, stabbed to death, and this sets Jones to investigating to discover what's going on.

Jones is a marvelous character, full of the prejudices and quirks of the 19th Century man. These, however, don't make him evil, just a product of his times. The character is well-drawn and intelligent, and the supporting cast is well done also, from General Thomas Meagher and President Lincoln to various fictional coal miners and other figures. This book also represents the first break in the narrative of Jones' Civil War service: there's mention of his adventures surrounding the Battle of Antietam, but that episode wasn't the previous book. In addition, there's also reference to the Molly Maguires and other episodes from the post-war period, telling us that Abel Jones will probably move along after the war. One reviewer complained that the Molly Maguires aren't well-defined, here, but of course they hadn't formed yet, so they would be ill-defined, wouldn't they?

I enjoyed this book immensely, and would recommend it to any fan of mysteries, or anyone interested in the Civil War.