Customer Reviews

The Parting Glass

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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!

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.

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

I read this book unaware it must be the sequel to "Whiskey Island". Not a problem. The author pulls you in with each character and the storyline going from past to present, then back again was done smoothly. I'm looking for other books by this author!!

Occasionally life will hand us a situation and we don't know if we are strong enough to handle.

This is the case for Peggy Donaghue when she learns that her young son is autistic. So she puts her medical career on hold while she struggles to understand the condition that has her son locked in a world of his own. When she receives an offer to spend a year in Ireland with a distant relative, she grabs the opportunity to spend one-on-one time with her son and learn about her family's past in return.

Emilie Richards returns to the story of the Donaghue sisters in her novel, "The Parting Glass," a sequel to her bestselling book, "Whiskey Island," which began the chronicles of the lives of the Donaghue clan, the family who has been apart of Cleveland's large Irish community since days of the first immigrant's arrival.

Richards picks up her story of the feisty Donaghue sisters, focusing on little sister Peggy's story. Her decision to move to Ireland to live with elderly distant cousin Irene Tierney proves to be a move that will affect not only her life, but the lives of her entire family. As Peggy helps Irene unravel the mystery of their connected lineage, they discover family secrets that will soon come clearly important to the American side of the family. Experiencing love in the form of handsome but tragic Dr. Finn O'Malley will prove to be an added adventure that Peg hadn't planned on.

Back in the States, Megan, the eldest sister, has married her true love, Niccolo Andreani, an ex-priest who works with the trouble youth of their close-knit neighborhood. However, on the night of their wedding, a tornado strikes, all but leveling the historic Whiskey Island saloon, revealing a mysterious marking that will change the lives of everyone who comes into view of it. As they work to restore the saloon, Megan and Nick found out that married life is not exactly all wine and roses. As the couple work through communication problems early on, each wonders if they have made a mistake abandoning their former lives.

Only the middle sister, Casey, is living in relative harmony, having married her high school sweetheart, Jon Kovats and now is expecting their first child. But if one Donaghue ain't happy, none of them are happy, and the two older sister travel to Ireland to try to sort out their myriad of problems together, family style.

Intermixed with the Donaghue sisters' story is the story of Irene's family during the early days of Prohibition, and how their family became intertwined with the Donaghues in the beginning. The love story of Glenn Donaghue and Clare McNulty is heartbreaking and poignant.

Emilie Richards wraps up her Whiskey Island saga successfully, tying up loose ends and treating her fans to bits of Irish humor, angst, and whimsy in her writing. She ties her story together with glimpses into the past via letters written between the parish priest and his Irish sister. This gives wonderful background information, as well as bringing the story together for a magnificent and satisfying conclusion.

Be sure to read the first book, Whiskey Island, before this one. I started reading Emilie Richards with her Shenedoah Series because of the quilt block titles. She only gets better with each book. This series was exceptional. Good solid reading from start to finish.

While Megan Donahue and Niccolo Andreani plan to wed, elderly relative Irene Tierney sends a letter to her and her sister Peggy. A former medical student, Peggy decides to follow up on the correspondence that came from Shanmullin, Ireland as a chance to start anew with her autistic son Kieran. Irene believes that the Donahue siblings can assist her in learning what happened to her father who died over seven decades ago in Cleveland near where the sisters currently live.

While in Cleveland, Megan struggles with her new marriage and trying to solve Irene's mystery. In Ireland, three generations fall in love with one another, as Irene becomes friend, mother and grandmother to Peggy and Kieran. Peggy and Kieran return the warmth. However, Irene's physician widower Dr. Finn O'Malley wants the Yanks to go back to Lake Erie because he fears the attraction he feels to the single mom, one that she reciprocates.

The sequel to WHISKEY ISLAND, THE PARTING GLASS continues with the lives of the Donahue sisters and those within their sphere. The story line is filled with angst, at times overwhelmingly so, but the novel never loses reader attention as the audience cherishes Megan and Peggy and quickly adopts Irene too. Emilie Richards provides an emotional romance that leaves her fans breathless.

Harriet Klausner

A multi-layered, multi-generational saga of an Irish family. Spanning the Atlantic ocean and richly populated with a diverse set of characters, Emilie Richards weaves stories together in a flashback style that works, tied together with humor, love, and tragedy. Beginning with a series of disasters during Megan Donaghue's wedding, the reader is then transported to Ireland with sister Peggy and her autistic young son Kieran to the home of a dying distant cousin. Misunderstandings, pubs and saloons, alcoholism, schizophrenia, debilitating grief, miracles, and autism, as well as the requisite red-headed Irish tempers give the story realism, and the setting is casually comfortable. A wonderfully hopeful glimpse into the lives and loves of the Donaghue Sisters.

The previous reviews have already said so much about this wonderful family story, I will only add that I did read this before reading the previous book, Whiskey Island. It is not necessary to read the first book but it might be preferable. I loved this story and the setting in Ireland where much of the book took place. If you enjoy sensitive, thoughtful dynamic family sagas I am confident you will love this book. The people are very real and as in all of this author's books, she makes you long to be friends with them longer than just a book read.

This is the sequel to Whiskey Island and revisits the lives of the 3 Donaghue sisters. The book focuses primarily on Megan, who is about to get married to Niccolo, a former priest, and Peggy, the youngest sister, who has a son with signs of autism. At the wedding reception at their saloon, a freak tornado causes the guests to be trapped. Their father is able to lead them out through some secret tunnels from the Prohibition era. The remainder of book deals with the rebuilding of the saloon and the challenges in Megan and Nick's marriage. The other primary story is Peggy's journey to Ireland to care for a distant relation while giving her son a supportive environment to work on his autistic behavior. Peggy meets a troubled widower who has given up his medical practice, as she has given up med school to care for her son. Interwoven is the historical linking story between the Donaghues and the Tierneys. the sisters end up all together in Ireland and begin to forge some adult-peer relationships with each other. There is some drama, romance and suspense. It was an enjoyable story and I am glad we got to see more of Peggy who was not a major character in the first book. The story was involving and the historical story was fascinating. This was a nice conclusion to the series.