An Irish Christmas: Stories (Keane, John B.) [Hardcover]

John B. Keane (Author)

Book Description

Series: Keane, John B. | Publication Date: October 2000

From one of Ireland's favorite writers and most popular storytellers, a stockingful of Christmas surprises for any season. In this winning collection of seventeen original tales, John B. Keane plumbs the rich folk culture of Ireland as he portrays the holiday dreams and everyday shortcomings of ordinary country people during the Christmas season. Delightfully, and frequently sardonic, he casts his knowing eye on the foibles of Irish humanity and reveals the intelligences behind them with shrewdness and compassion. The skillfully related stories in Keane's congenial volume introduce the reader to the amusing particulars of the Christmases celebrated by characters like Dotie Tupper and Johnny Naile and the doughty Canon Doyle who, in one tale, routs the scoundrels intent on detaching the collection box from its place on the church wall and, in another, employs modern electronics to rehabilitate a fellow parish priest. In the process, Doyle comes to some surprising revelations about himself, as does a seasonal traveler named Masterman, whose festive lust goes so wildly awry that his dishonorable designs lead him to a moral light. Throughout this volume, whether visiting "The Greatest Wake of All" or illuminating "The Seven Year Trance" or telling the tales of "The Hermit of Scartnabrock" and "Awlingal Princess of Cunnackeenamadra," Keane bears benevolent testimony to the inhabitants and folk traditions of his colorful County Kerry.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Sure and if a body likes Irish humor and tales, this whimsical, solidly Hibernian set of 17 stories featuring the roguish, charming and not-so-charming denizens of County Kerry will be a fine bet to place under the tree. Novelist, poet and fabulist Keane (Durango) offers these authentically cadenced tales for the holidays, even though many of them only nominally concern Christmas. In "A Christmas Comeuppance," the local canon learns the truth of the old adage "people in glass houses..." through the lens of a judicious video camera. "The Seven Year Trance" finds Hiccup O'Reilly playing Scheherazade for his brothers-in-law, who promise to beat him up if he doesn't come up with a good story to explain his seven-year absence. A fantastical ghost story accompanied by many rounds at the local pub (financed by Hiccup) saves his life. "The Resurrection" features a fey, lovely barmaid who succeeds in "raising" a comatose young football player she has always had a hankering for. A calf gains a home instead of becoming "baby beef" by submitting himself, as it were, to God in "The Sacred Calf." Irish customs from the public house to the wake are lovingly explored by a writer who casts an amused eye on the foibles of his countrymen. (Nov.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Carroll & Graf (October 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786708158
• ISBN-13: 978-0786708154
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.7 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,396,151 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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