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Carmel B
Grief Delayed
I know from experience that grief delayed is grief unresolved. Sarah and Anna are kindred spirits in their quest to find peace following heart wrenching personal loss. Thankfully, there are angels, saints or fairies to help us on our journeys. Effortlessly, Woods transports her readers from the glitz and glamour of New York art museums to the farmhouses and mansions of the Irish countryside and back again. With a cast of talented characters that range from sorrowful, conflicted, mysterious, comical, brave and romantic “The Story Collector” captures our imaginations as well as our senses. Apologetically, I find
…more the ending confusing regarding Sarah and Oran. (less)As a huge fan of storytelling, the title The Story Collector won me over.
Narrated in two timelines; Thornwood village 1910 Ireland and New York 2010.
Sarah Harper changes her flight from Boston to Shannon airport instead . Her life is a bit stagnated with her marriage on edge and personal life in tatters. In Ireland she gets caught up in stories and lives of a rural community. She discovers the diary of a young girl Anna . The more she reads it the darker Anna’s story is. She is enthralled with an Ireland of old that is filled with superstition and mysticism.
Not only is this book a mystery, but it is filled
…more with self exploration and teaches one the power that stories have on our lives . To bring comfort in one’s darkest time and takes one on a lifetime journey.
I came away from this book checking off a reason to read- To learn about and from the past.
An extraordinary story from ordinary people. (less)I truly enjoyed the book. The author included two different timelines in the story-line, with each chapter told from the perspective of a character. There was a connection between the past and present, and each woman had to overcome hardships. The book contained elements of fantasy, magic, romance, and historical fiction, all woven together into a wonderful novel. I especially loved the relationship between Martha and Henry as they searched for the lost manuscript and bookshop. All of the secondary characters added to the story especially Madame Bowden Martha's employer. She would show up numerous times to
…more assist Martha with a difficult situation. I did not predict the ending and it was magical. (less)Sarah impulsively boards a plane to Ireland, where she lands at a small and maybe mysterious cottage. She is drawn to a perhaps magical tree with local history and finds the diary of a young woman, Anna, written 100 years in the past. Time jumps explore life for Anna, her meeting and relationship with American Harold, and the local lore in 1910. With Anna's help, Harold explores the idea of fairies and magic in Ireland. As Sarah reads the diary, she finds more in common with Anna, and explores her own pain and grief as she invests in, and learns to trust herself.
I loved this book from start to finish. The author'
…more s writing flows so easily and is beautiful without being superfluous or overwhelming. She provides just the right about of verbiage to allow the imagery to come through naturally. Everywhere she takes us, everyone we meet, you feel like you are there.
While mostly predictable, this book was so lovely and wonderful. Absolute 5 stars! (less)Does anyone actually make a spur-of-the-moment decision to move to another continent on Christmas Day? Sarah Harper does in this unusually charming and cheerful story. She leaves New York and relocates to the western coast of Ireland, on a whim, after reading a small news article about fairies living in a countryside Hawthorn tree of Ireland.
Sarah takes a small suitcase and changes of clothing, but her important baggage includes a failed marriage and slight alcohol addiction. After she arrives in Ireland, Sarah stays near the Hawthorn tree at Butler cottage. The story morphs into a dual timeline when Sarah
…more discovers a diary written in 1911. Miss Anna Butler is the narrator and diary owner, and she tells the powerful story of the Hawley family at Thornwood House.
Magical realism is the genre for this novel, and aptly so. There are convincing tales of fairies or leprechauns that control the lives of the Hawley family at Thornwood House. (less)I found this book a true delight.
Sometimes when a book has alternating time lines the story becomes confusing and the reader loses track of where they are in time. Woods handles the switching very well and smoothly.
In 2011 a young woman grieving her failed marriage impetuously boards a plane for Ireland instead of heading home to her parents for rest, recovery and reevaluation. What she finds there is a small village of caring and interesting people. And, in one of her walking excursions a diary of a young girl, who 100 years ago dwelt in the same cottage in which she is staying.
Sarah finds herself engrossed in
…more the tale of Anna, the daughter of the farmer who lived in the small cottage Sarah is now inhabiting. Anna too is suffering a grief of her own that she finds herself not sharing but that is a driving force in her life. Both women become involved with the men who will help them start to sort the pain and move forward through it. For Sarah, it is the local conservation officer, Oran. He and his wife and daughter had once lived in the cottage, too. But his wife died young and he could not remain there once she was gone. He has a daughter, Hazel, a young teen who is quite fascinated by Sarah, the American from New York by way of Boston.
For Anna, it is a young American, as well. Harold Griffin-Krauss has come to Thornwood Village from Oxford where he is studying. He wishes to research the Celtic culture, particularly as it applies to magic, the little folk, superstition. He asks Anna to introduce him to the locals so he can gather their stories and experiences. For Anna, his interest helps her deal with her anxiety to contact the sister she has lost. For Sarah, the story of their exploits helps her to open her mind to the possibility of a future without guilt or sadness.
Hazel at one point quotes Roald Dahl--"Those who don't believe in magic will never find it." In their own ways both Sarah and Anna find magic. And while their future is not truly known at the end of the book, there is at least the promise of happiness and contentment. (less)
Cloggie Downunder
will appeal to lovers of fairy folklore.
The Story Collector is the third novel by Irish author, Evie Gaughan who also writes as Evie Woods. Just before Christmas in 2010, Sarah Harper finally decides to quit her failing marriage but, at the airport, instead of flying to her sister in Boston, she impulsively gets on a plane to Shannon, in Ireland. This late in the day, when she arrives, there’s “no room at the inn” and she ends up in a cozy little cottage in Thornwood.
Still trying to ward off panic attacks after The Big Bad Thing that happened two years earlier, her somewhat ill-advised outdoor run leads to the discovery of the hundred-year-old diary
…more of Anna Butler. Sarah finds it a fascinating read, as does Hazel Sweeney, the granddaughter of her cottage landlord.
Living with her family in a cottage in the County Clare village of Thornwood, eighteen-year-old Anna Butler stays busy with farm chores and lace-making, and wishing that George Hawley, the Lord’s sone at Thornwood Hall, would notice her. They do say “Be careful what you wish for”
When, in late 1910, Harold Griffin-Krauss, a serious Californian student of anthropology turns up needing a go-between for his research into fairy beliefs in the community, Anna is glad to help: it will be a change of scene, quite a number in the village have interesting stories to tell, and perhaps she’ll even share with him her own experience with the Good People.
When Harold is introduced to the Hawley twins, he’s less impressed by them than Anna expects, even though George’s twin, Olivia seems to have taken a liking to Harold. Amongst all the stories Anna and Harold hear, there’s a tragic one about the Hawley twins and their mother, talk of changelings. And there are rumours about George’s behaviour, but he’s such a charming gentleman, surely they can’t be true?
Woods puts a few nice parallels in her dual time line story, and gives her characters wise words and insightful observations. When a couple is grieving: “you end up saying what you think they want to hear. There’s a fear in all of us, that we’ll lose the relationship. But I suppose we end up losing ourselves instead.” However, the characters are not instantly relatable, and the style of the diary is unrealistic. A sweet little novel that will appeal to lovers of fairy folklore.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Harper Collins UK/One More Chapter. (less)The Story Collector is a book in my favorite genre. The title was the first thing that interested me. I love things that relate to a library or books. The word story in the title and the picture on the front of the book both captured my interest. The second thing that made me perk up was the fact that the story was set in Ireland and had the customs of the Irish and some of their beliefs and the Gaelic language imbedded in the story. I am not Irish, but would have liked to be. I also appreciated the two parallel stories going on in the book. We see and understand the changing of the morals and customs that occur
…more in a hundred year period. Anna is facing young adulthood and all the good and bad that it entails. Sarah is facing the grief process and becoming a women who starts to believe in herself. The story was totally believable to me, as any person's life can upend their intentions. I liked the fairy tales that wondered through the story and how different people needed more coaxing to tell their stories. Even when people were telling their stories, they were showing the culture of Ireland. I totally enjoyed The Last Bookshop, so I knew I'd love Evie Woods previous book. I'm looking forward to her next book. (less)
