St. Patrick's Bed [Hardcover]

Terence M. Green (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 19, 2001

Terence M. Green's novels growing out of the history of his family in the last century, Shadow of Ashland and A Witness to Life, have won him much critical praise and a wide readership. Now, in St. Patrick's Bed, Green returns, at a point fifteen years later, to the story of Leo Nolan, who went to Ashland, Kentucky in search of his lost uncle, Jack Radey, and in finding him, also found a wife, Jeanne, and her young child, Adam.

Leo and Jeanne have been trying for a few years to have another child. And Adam, now a young man about to leave his teens, feels the need to trace and visit his true father, who abandoned his pregnant mother before he was born. Because he loves and wants to protect Adam, Leo decides that he had better visit the man first, and so he embarks on another trip into the past, from which he returns changed again.

Terence M. Green is a substantial novelist of exceptional talent. He is able to write about emotions with sensitivity but without sentimentality. As Charles de Lint says, "Green pens moments of such pristine clarity, so perfectly describing a mood or a detail, that the words seem to sing from the page."

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Fathers and sons--will their jockeying for position and quest for relationships that bond but don't bind, ever cease to fascinate? In a sequel to Shadow of Ashland (1996), Green flashes forward to the family of Leo Nolan in the late 1990s, when Leo's stepson, Adam, 21 and a University of Toronto English major, suddenly expresses the desire to find and meet the father who abandoned him before his birth. This prompts Leo's recollections of relations with his own father, Tommy, his Gramps, and even his Uncle Jim, who had one leg longer than the other. Leo, who is trying for a late-in-life baby with Jeanne, Adam's mother, decides to find his stepson's father first in order to check the man out and spare Adam the potential pain of disappointment. Interspersing Leo's memories of the man who fathered him with his progress in finding Adam's sire, Green infuses the novel with a tender regard for ordinary pathos and for quiet truths that rise far above the soap opera lesser hands might have made it. Whitney Scott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"[A] compact, quietly thoughtful, emotionally compelling novel . . . this is the third tale concerning the Radey family of Toronto (the others are Shadow of Ashland and A Witness to Life) to take us on both an outward journey and an interior expedition, this time into the heart of the relationship between father and son. . . . It takes a special writer to delineate the complexities of blood kinship while maintaining the reader's sympathy for each character. . . . Green expertly commingles the mythical past with the hard truths of the present in Leo Nolan's aspiration to be a good father and a good son in this heartfelt novel. It may not be fashionable, but it sure feels good." - The Globe and Mail (Toronto)

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Forge Books; 1st edition (October 19, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765300435
• ISBN-13: 978-0765300430
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,939,892 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Terence M Green -- born and still resident in Toronto, Ontario, Canada -- the author of 7 books, holds MA and BA degrees from University College, Dublin, and BA and BEd degrees from the University of Toronto. A retired secondary school English teacher (career spanning 31 years), he was the first writer-in-residence in more than 20 years at Mohawk College (Hamilton, Ontario)in 2003-2004. A 2-time World Fantasy Award finalist for Best Novel, profiled in such places as "Canadian Who's Who," "Contemporary Authors" and "The Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature," he has conducted writing workshops from Florida to the Yukon. Currently, he is lecturer (creative writing) at the University of Western Ontario.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A LOVE STORY TO LIFE'S PASSAGES, October 29, 2001

By 

Gayla Collins (Sheridan, WYOMING USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: St. Patrick's Bed (Hardcover)

We first meet Leo Nolan in "Shadow of Ashland" seeking knowledge of his lost uncle, Jack Radey. Knowledge is found, along with a lovely woman and her young son. Leo marries Jeanne displacing she and Adam to his home in Canada, leaving behind Adam's father. Now, 15 years later, in an act of protection, Leo feels he must anonymously meet the "other" father, prior to Adam doing so. The poignant trip back to Ashland conjurs sentimental memories memorialized beautifully by the prose of Terence Green. As his passenger, the reader delves into cobwebbed rememberances of drive-ins, childhood mayhem, and life's non predictiability. You are never disappointed in Leo's sidetrips....the magical moments lie there in quivering wait.

Terence Green is one of my top ten favorite male authors. This is a vast compliment, as I am somone who has read thousands of books, multiple genres, bevy of writers. His simple, quiet, sentimental style mesmerizes my eyes and heart to each page; each circumstance; each emotion. That he grips his reader san gratuitous violence and sex, multiple plot twists, or grapic language is a tribute to his abilities. There is romance, there are debacles, there are twists of thought, and there is language, but all are subtle, precise, palatable, and genuine.

"St Patrick's Bed" is a love song to rituals past and present; to memories enjoyed or endured; to choices desired or willed. It chants of love in all it's forms, and the music sings to each reader's soul. It is a gift to you. I would advice splurging!

5.0 out of 5 stars A worthy sequel to Shadows in Ashland!, June 27, 2002

By 

Nancy R. Katz "NancyK18" (NJ) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: St. Patrick's Bed (Hardcover)

Several years ago I read a new author, Terence Green, when his book Shadows in Ashland was published. I was intrigued by the family history presented in this book as the main character, Leo Nolan, sets out to find his uncle who left home during the Depression and was never heard from again. During his journey Leo, a resident of Canada, finds himself in Ashland where he not only finds out about his uncle's life but meets a woman Jeanne and her young son Adam who will become an integral part of his future.

The years have passed and in his newst book Green continues the story of Leo. Once again living in Canada, Leo is now married to Jeanne and the father of her son Adam. At 21, Adam is a fine young man who sudedenly exprsses an interest in meeting his biolgocial father. Leo sensing that Adam may be hurt by either finding or not finding his father, decides to try and find this man without Adam's knowledge.

While traveling first to Ohio, the last place Jeanne knew Adam's father lived, Leo has time to reflect on the male influnces in his life which include his father Tommy Nolan, grandfather Bampi and cherished uncles. He also spends time reflecting on the death of hia biological son Aidan from his previous marriage and his dreams and wishes for Adam as he is about to embark on adulthood. Finally in the most moving parts of the book, Leo comes to terms with his and Jeannes inability to have a child from their marriage. And as we read on we wonder what the outcome of this journey ultimately will be for Leo as well as Adam.

Terence Green's plot, characters and writing envelop the reader from the first page to the last one. And if readers find themselves ending the book with tears as I did, it is because the Nolans have become part of your family and you hate to leave them. I look forward to reading more books by Terence Green but now am content to read his second book Witness to Life which also discusses another aspect of this families history.

5.0 out of 5 stars Heartwarming, October 10, 2001

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: St. Patrick's Bed (Hardcover)

Though only the stepfather, Leo Nolan deeply cares about his wife's son, Adam, a twenty-one years old University of Toronto English major, as if he sired the lad. Unexpectedly, Adam articulates the need to meet his biological father who abandoned his pregnant mother before the lad was born.

Not wanting Adam hurt Leo seeks out his stepson's biological father in order to make sure he is a decent person. While conducting his search, Leo thinks back on his relations with his father, his Grandfather, and his Uncle.

The sequel to SHADOW OF ASHLAND, ST. PATRICK'S BED, is a poignant look at the relationships in modern day extended families. The story line engages the reader because the characters feel so real and most people are either part of or at least know a rapport identical to that shared between Adam and Leo even though the duo do not share genes. The noble Leo who ultimately keeps the novel fresh and from turning too maudlin as his trips back down memory lane constantly shakes up the prime theme with solid subplots. Has written an exultant relationship drama that fans of contemporary tales will enjoy.

Harriet Klausner