The Last Storyteller: A Novel of Ireland [Deckle Edge] [Hardcover]

Frank Delaney (Author)

Book Description

Release date: February 7, 2012

Frank Delaney, New York Times bestselling author of Ireland, Shannon, Tipperary, Venetia Kelly’s Traveling Show, and The Matchmaker of Kenmare, is the unparalleled master of Irish historical fiction, bringing Ireland to life with exceptional warmth, wisdom, and wit. Now, in The Last Storyteller, Delaney weaves an absorbing tale of lasting love, dangerous risk, and the healing power of redemption.
 
“Every legend and all mythologies exist to teach us how to run our days. In kind fashion. A loving way. But there’s no story, no matter how ancient, as important as one’s own. So if we’re to live good lives, we have to tell ourselves our own story. In a good way.” So says James Clare, Ben MacCarthy’s beloved mentor, and it is this fateful advice that will guide Ben through the tumultuous events of Ireland in 1956.
 
The national mood is downtrodden; poverty, corruption, and a fledgling armed rebellion rattle the countryside, and although Ben wants no part of the upstart insurrection along the northern border, he unknowingly falls in with an IRA sympathizer and is compromised into running guns. Yet despite his perilous circumstances, all he can think about is finding his former wife and true love, the actress Venetia Kelly.
 
Parted forcibly from Ben years ago, Venetia has returned to Ireland with her new husband, a brutal man and coarse but popular stage performer by the name of Gentleman Jack. Determined not to lose Venetia again, Ben calls upon every bit of his love, courage, and newfound gun-running connections to get her back. And as Ben fights to recapture his halcyon days with Venetia, he must finally reconcile his violent and flawed past with his hopes for a bright and loving future.
 
Brimming with fascinating Irish history, daring intrigue, and the drama of legendary love, The Last Storyteller is an unforgettable novel as richly textured and inspiring as Ireland itself.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Brimming with fascinating Irish history, daring intrigue, and the drama of legendary love, The Last Storyteller is an unforgettable novel as richly textured and inspiring as Ireland itself."   --Publisher's Weekly

For The Last Storyteller.

"Once again, Frank Delaney has spun a magical tale with his lyrical prose. This is a trilogy to be read and re-read. What a saga!" -- Book Reporter

PRAISE FOR FRANK DELANEY
 
The Matchmaker of Kenmare
 
“A delight to read . . . with its memorable characters and variety of adventures . . . [The Matchmaker of Kenmare] burnishes this veteran writer’s reputation as a consummate storyteller.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
 
“Engrossing . . . Delaney again unspools a fine yarn, while providing substantive insights into history and human nature.”—The Star-Ledger
 
Venetia Kelly’s Traveling Show
 
“Wonderful entertainment [that] encompasses Irish history and politics, a mystery, a quest, and a coming-of-age story . . . written with style and humor by a masterful storyteller.”—The Boston Globe
 
“Entrancing . . . Delaney unleashes a cavalcade of memorable characters worthy of John Irving. . . . Teeming with life and a sprawling, chaotic energy, [this novel] scores another goal for Delaney.”—The Plain Dealer

About the Author

Frank Delaney is the author of the New York Times bestselling novel Ireland, as well as The Matchmaker of Kenmare, Venetia Kelly’s Traveling Show, Tipperary, Shannon, and Simple Courage: A True Story of Peril on the Sea. A former judge for the Man Booker Prize, Delaney enjoyed a prominent career in BBC broadcasting before becoming a full-time writer. Born in Tipperary, Ireland, he now lives in New York City and Connecticut.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Random House (February 7, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400067855
• ISBN-13: 978-1400067855
• Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 1.4 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #211,275 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

'The Most Eloquent Man in the World', says NPR, about the writer, broadcaster, BBC host and Booker Prize Judge, Frank Delaney. Over a career of interviews that has lasted more than three decades, Delaney, an international-best-selling author himself, has interviewed more than 3,500 of the world's most important writers.

Frank Delaney has earned top prizes and best-seller status in a wide variety of formats, from prolific author, a polished broadcaster on both television and radio, to journalist, correspondent, screenwriter, lecturer, playwright and scholar. He has been the president of the Samuel Johnson Society, president of the UK Book Trust, and the Literary Director of the famed Edinburgh Festival.

A judge of many literary prizes (including the famous Booker), Delaney also created landmark programs and passionate documentaries on many subjects including Joyce, Shaw, Oscar Wilde, Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, Hemingway, Mailer, Matisse, Van Gogh and the vitality and organic growth of the English language - his famed BBC show on the way we speak, Word of Mouth, is still heard all over the English-speaking world. And his six-part series, The Celts, originally broadcast in forty countries, is still in active DVD distribution, some twenty years after its launch.

Mr. Delaney lectures all over the world, writes every day, and has created a significant podcast series: Re:Joyce, deconstructing, examining and illuminating James Joyce's Ulysses line-by-line, in accessible and entertaining five-minute broadcasts, posted each week on this website. The project is estimated to run a quarter of a century.

Born and raised in County Tipperary, Ireland, Delaney spent more than twenty-five years in England before moving to the United States in 2002. His first 'American' book was the New York Times Bestseller, Ireland. His second, the non-fiction Simple Courage, was chosen as one of the top five books of the year by the American Library Association. Since 2006, he has published five Novels of Ireland, all addressing, decade by decade, the twentieth century history of his homeland. His latest novel, "The Last Storyteller" (Random House, February 7th 2012) celebrates the mysteries of the ancient oral tradition as the last itinerant storytellers work their magic in 1950's Ireland.

Mr. Delaney lives in Litchfield County, Connecticut, with his wife, writer and marketer, Diane Meier.

Delaney broadcasts "Re:Joyce," a weekly podcast on James Joyce's "Ulysses" on his website www.frankdelaney.com. You can find his daily writing tips on Twitter: http://twitter.com/FDbytheword

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Review of The Last Storyteller February 7, 2012

By Lydia TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover

Here's the thing about Frank Delaney - when that blurb on sites like GoodReads and Amazon refer to him as "unparalleled" when it comes to Irish History, they aren't exaggerating.

Delaney is the real deal.

I've loved this series ever since reading the first page about Ben and Venetia in Venetia Kelly's Traveling Show. I was drawn in by the whimsical, perfectly illustrated cover of that book, and since then I have been wooed and won over by the lyricism of Delany's storytelling ability.

There are times when a writing is so powerful you can hear the accent, or the coloring of the speech, and it is that way with this book. When Delaney talks about the old storytellers, when he describes the way the voice sounds, the rising and falling of the rhythms, I feel transported, and am enchanted right along with the characters who, enviably, get to hear more than I do.

That's right, I said enviably. It's not often I envy a character, but man.. This book made me do so.

While I loved the continuation of Venetia and Ben's story, I have to say the diverging into the old tales (there was one story in particular that had me gasping - think banshee) is what made this book a treasure to me. I felt as if I were part of that privileged circle that gets to experience what it must have been like to listen to the Bard's of old.

Mr. Delaney, thank you. You do those Bards credit - and personally, I think you should sign your name "Frank Delaney, Bard" from now on.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Compelling and Wonderfully Written - a Great Novel February 7, 2012

By Keri Knutson

Format:Hardcover

I was fortunate to receive an advance review copy of Frank Delaney's The Last Storyteller. It was my first introduction to his work, and even though the book is part of a continuing series, it works wonderfully as a stand-alone novel.

While the beginning is just a tad slow, it was soon easy to be lost in Ben and Venetia's story while still being captivated by the interweaving of the legends and mythos of Ireland too - not an easy feat, and one that shows off Delaney's considerable narrative skills.

Delany is both a lyrical writer and a master of pacing. He draws characters with a few deft strokes and makes them seem complex and believable. I was taken by the contrast of beautiful description and the casual brutality of many of the scenes. It really captures a time period in Irish history and brings it to life. And in segments where a love story could have been somewhat self-indulgent, it speaks to the way we mythologize our own lives and how we pass down our memories to future generations, how we can't escape our own histories and how we draw on the past to fill out our lives.

While historical in nature, that history never seems rote or boring - it's a breathing, living thing that is just as compelling as any piece of action or intrigue. It's a beautiful and exciting book, full of memorable scenes, and I highly recommend it.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars May the storyteller's live on...... February 7, 2012

By Jean Brandt

Format:Hardcover

Had the privilege to be asked to review Frank Delaney's newest novel. Though I have read all of his books to date, I have only reviewed one other, Tipperary, which was my first experience reading anything by Mr. Delaney.
Reread my first review and was struck by how "timid" the review sounded. After reading the rest of his novels, I would like to trumpet Frank Delaney's story telling abilities from a few rooftops. Obviously, this would be impractical but I will post this review of "The Last Storyteller" to several sites online. Urging others to visit Ireland, learn a bit of it's history, experience much of it's wonderful character and enjoy (I smiled a lot) many tales taken from it's folklore, through the eyes of a wonderful Irish author.
The title of this book "The Last Storyteller" is, for a reading person such as myself, a dire thought. Was raised on stories, both written and verbal, believe them to be a part and parcel of who I am, not wealthy in so far as material belongings but rich in ways that transcend money and things.
Frank Delaney himself is a storyteller of the old school and this book is about such a storyteller. The story follows the life of one man who takes on the old profession of a traveling storyteller. But, this is a pretty simplistic discription. The book is so much more. The history of Ireland with all of it's drama, the character of the Irish people and the beauty of it's land are all drawn on the page by a an artist, a wordsmith I would say.
To read this book is to travel and to meet new and interesting people. One will turn the last page having added immeasurably to their lives.
This review comes with this warning.....if you read one of Frank Delaney's books, you will want to go back and read them all, as I did.
Read this book ! Enjoy !
Thank you for sharing the stories Mr. Delaney...may the "Storytellers" be around for a long time !