18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Deserves SIX stars!, July 23, 2003
This review is from: The Parting Glass (Hardcover)
In this incredible follow up to Whiskey Island, Emilie Richards pulls the reader in from the first page.
Beginning in Whiskey Island, Megan and Niccolo are about to be wed, while Peggy is planning on taking her autistic two year old son, Kieran, to Ireland to act as a companion to elderly relative Irene Tierney.
Peggy soon arrives in Ireland to find that while she had high hopes for finding a magic 'cure' for Kieran's autism, she has to fight her discouragement as the work she tries to do with him has little results. While honestly believing that all Kieran needs is her full attention, Peggy soon comes to realize that her son will never be like a normal boy his age and all she can hope for is his happiness. Soon she meets Finn O'Malley who facsinates her, yet makes her ache. Dealing with his own tragedy, Finn has given up his love for medicine and only takes care of his eleven year old daughter in the most fundamental way.
Back in Whiskey Island, Megan and Nick are learning that it takes more to make a marriage work than love. Trying to repair the saloon that was destroyed in a tornado during their wedding reception, Nick is constantly busy with the rentovations or trying to find funding for Brick. Megan on the other hand has too much time on her hand and soon realizes that her and Nick aren't on the same page. With her marriage in shambles so soon after the ceremony, Megan flees to Ireland and falls in love with Irene as quickly as Peggy did. She soon realizes that she left her heart with Nick.
The Parting Glass was an intensely emotional book about family. Richards also takes the reader back to the 1920's where we learn about Liam Tierney and Glen Donaghue. This book at times brought tears to my eyes and laughter into my heart. I couldn't put it down and read it in a day. Don't miss this book!
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16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A stunning follow-up to Whiskey Island, June 27, 2003
This review is from: The Parting Glass (Hardcover)
Emilie Richards has followed up her impressive work, WHISKEY ISLAND, with another story about the irresistible Donaghue sisters. In this one, youngest sister Peggy is featured, but we see plenty of sisters Megan and Casey as well Combining historical and contemporary elements (present day Cleveland and County Mayo Ireland, with a story about the Donaghue ancestors in Cleveland in the 1920s) this book has something for everyone.
As the story opens Megan is dressing for her wedding to ex-priest Niccolo Andreani. They are in for a surprise though as at the reception, held in the family business, The Whiskey Island Saloon, a fierce storm is brewing without their knowledge -- a tornado traps the revelers in the saloon with, it seems, no way out. But the sisters' father, Rooney, remembers passageway beneath the saloon - a tunnel used by bootleggers in the 1920s. Tragedy is averted but what is the strange image Niccolo sees on the tunnel wall?
Meanwhile, Peggy has left her medical school studies to care for her young son Kieran who has been diagnosed as being autistic. So she is off to Ireland to meet an elderly cousin, Irene, who contacted them via the internet looking for information on her father, Liam Tierney, who had disappeared in Cleveland in the 1920s. While there Peggy meets Finn O'Malley who has abandoned his medical practice after a tragic accident took the lives of his wife and young sons two years previous, leaving him barely able to care for his surviving child, an 11-year-old daughter, Bridie, let alone care for patients. Peggy however has found friends in not only Irene, but in young Bridie who is so good with young Kieran.
Casey, having become the recent bride of high school friend Jon Kovats, is happy in her marriage but the young marriage of Megan and Niccolo is having its problems. Seems Niccolo, who had learned how to be a priest, has no idea how to be a husband and is seemingly more involved in his business venture which provides help to at-risk youth, than he is in keeping Megan happy. When a planned weekend away gets cancelled, Megan storms out of the house and decides to visit Peggy in Ireland. It isn't long before Casey decides Peggy and Megan can't have all the fun and she is joining them at Irene's cottage as well.
As Peggy struggles to help Kieran, she also hears stories from Irene who eventually admits she knows more about her father then she first led the sisters to believe. Stories of what really happened to her father, Liam, in Cleveland - and how much the families really are connected. A story of bootlegging, and of the tragic story of the first love of the sisters' grandfather, Glen Donaghue.
But there is romance in store for Peggy as well. She helps Finn come out of the depression and guilt he has felt for the past two years, but both know they have to take it one day at a time and fear they will never have a future together. It takes a near tragedy for them to finally find out what the future will hold.
I don't know how Emilie Richards does it. She so beautifully combines several storylines not only without confusing the reader but with immediately drawing in the reader to each storyline as the are told several chapters at a time. Not any easy feat! I felt as if I was in County Mayo, Ireland with Peggy (or was it just wishful thinking?) and could image the settings in Cleveland as well with Richard's deft hand at description. The characters are people the reader feels they know as well. I was so glad I was able to read these two connected books, WHISKEY ISLAND and THE PARTING GLASS back to back, and although it isn't necessary to read WHISKEY ISLAND before reading THE PARTING GLASS, I believe your reading experience will be enhanced if you do. THE PARTING GLASS is an absolutely first-rate read, one I couldn't put down once I started. I can give no higher praise than to say I am going to now be reading all the Emilie Richards books I've missed. Books fortunately I already have in my TBR pile.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Calagon-type book ~~ it takes you away!, July 23, 2004
I am a devoted Emilie Richards fan ~~ I have read almost all of her books and I totally loved Whiskey Island ~~ it's in my home state and I love books that is set in Ohio since I know the general area. I just love Richards' books since she delves into her characters' lives and she brings her readers along with her into a journey that travels back and forth in time between two different generations of people, especially women. This book is no exception. In fact, it's better than Whiskey Island in some ways ~~ the sisters are more mature and dealing with more mature issues than being single and wondering if they'll ever fall in love.
Each of the sisters are set on their paths that they have chosen in life. Casey, who is not written about very much in this novel, is pregnant and happily married to Jon, her friend from high school. The novel centers mostly on Megan and Peggy. Megan and Niccolo are married but dealing with a shattered saloon that a tornado has torn apart, the growing lack of communication between the two of them and with Megan's restlessness as she is temporarily out of work. Peggy takes her son, Kieran, to Ireland after putting medical school on hold since he has autism and Peggy decided to devote time to helping Kieran learn the basic skills. She also went to be her cousin's companion. Irene, a lovely Irish spinster, is seeking answers to her father's death eighty years before. The sisters all help with the research and along the way, found answers to their own questions and problems as well as discovering the great secret that Irene's father has been holding all those years.
This is a great escape-novel. If you're overwhelmed with life and life's demands, this is the perfect book to sink yourself into for a few days. It's not a demanding reading but it's a fun reading ~~ and Richards keeps you guessing as you turn the pages. Once again, she writes about star-crossed lovers, relationships between husband and wife, between sisters and friends and lovers. It's a wonderful novel. She has the charm to keep you coming back for more.
7-23-04
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