The Irish Key (Emerald Isles #1) by Daisy O'Shea
Genre: Contemporary ficiton, Dual timeline
Read: 27th April 2024
Published; 24th April 2024
★★★★ 4 stars
DESCRIPTION:
‘Take the key, my pet. I can’t ever go back. The last letter I had from Ireland was clear about that. But one day you may need a safe haven, and it’s the one thing I can give you. Ireland is in your blood, it will keep you safe.’
When Grace arrives tired, tearful and rain-soaked in Roone Bay, the little Irish village where her grandmother Caitlin grew up, she is overwhelmed with longing for Caitlin’s safe, warm arms. The crumbling wreck of Caitlin’s once-beautiful childhood cottage – whose key Grace was given on her wedding day as a secret refuge if she ever needed it – is not the fresh start she’d hoped for. But with her young daughter Olivia to look after and a painful past to hide from, Grace has to stay strong.
Plucking up the courage to ask for help from her kind new neighbours – including quietly rugged carpenter Sean Murphy – Grace gets to work making the house habitable. Soon the view of the deep emerald sea has her captivated, Olivia is blossoming, and Sean makes her laugh in a way she’d forgotten she could…
As she learns more about her family history, with Sean by her side, Grace’s curiosity unearths only further mystery. What drove Caitlin away from Ireland, never to return? But when Grace uncovers a long-lost letter to Caitlin that reveals the heartbreaking truth, she is suddenly threatened by her own devastating secrets.
Grace may have finally found a home for her little family. But when faced with everything she ran from, will the past tear her apart once more? Or will Grace find the strength to stand up for her daughter, her love for Sean, and her new life in Ireland?
This utterly heartbreaking, completely life-affirming story of a family secret that echoes down the generations is perfect for fans of Susanne O’Leary and Tricia O’Malley.
MY THOUGHTS:
Her grandmother's key will unlock more than she'd ever imagined...
Contemporary women's fiction can be a bit hit or miss for me but I loved the sound of this tale in this little piece of Ireland. It's charming with a easy pace and a host of secrets.
On Grace's wedding day, her grandmother Caitlin gave her a big old iron key tied with a blue ribbon in a nod to the age old adage of something old and something blue. Puzzled by the gift, her grandmother whispered "just in case" she was ever in need of an escape one day. Swept up in the romance of her wedding day, Grace never expected or thought she would ever need it. Her husband Graham thought it a dirty old thing and told her to throw it away. But Grace held on to it. For this key held the secrets to the past and you never know...she may just wish to visit the place of her grandmother's birth one day.
Seven years later with her six year old daughter Olivia in tow, Grace is running from the stifling oppression of her unhappy marriage to a manipulative and controlling man who wanted nothing but a pliable obedient and decorative wife who did as she was told. But it was his blatant disregard for her wishes and the future he held in store for their daughter that was the final nail in the coffin of their already dead marriage. Making it seem like an adventure, Grace promised Olivia a visit to the seaside...a more permanent one than Olivia (in her childlike innocence) envisaged.
It took three long days, several trains, a ferry and a couple of buses for them to reach their destination. And when they did, she was disappointed. The beautiful quaint little cottage on the west coast of Cork in her grandparents' photograph resembled nothing of the draughty cold old pile of rubble standing before her now. Forget the key her grandmother gave her - this cottage no longer has a door! Tendrils of ivy and brambles grow up the walls and through the chimney, broken glass panes and a battered old door that lay on the ground. How can they live here? It's not fit for rodents, let alone people.
But time and tide is on her side it seems in the form of a kindly young man named Sean Murphy, who happens to be a builder and with her meagre savings which she had intended to live off for a while will have to be spent in renovating this sad old cottage. And restore it to its former glory. In the meantime, Grace and Olivia need a place to stay - at first with Mrs O'Hara's bed and breakfast for a few weeks until her paying guests come to stay. Then Grace gets herself a job typing up the memoirs of Rooney Bay's wealthy resident, returned from the Americas with his fortunes. At once, Noel O'Donovan invites them to stay in his big house while their cottage is being renovated. And it seems Noel has a few secrets of his own and he won't share them until he has gotten the measure of Grace and what exactly she's running from.
And despite being settled in Rooney House, Grace can't help but look over her shoulder, afraid that Graham will come looking for them and drag them back to England...and his way of life. But Grace has no idea what is in store for her in this quaint little Irish village...or where her heart will eventually lay.
I found this tale a little slow in places but then I am probably too used to the fast pace of thrillers that keep you turning the pages at the rate of knots. This is a more gentle read with a slower pace. But that's not to say it's boring or uneventful. It is intriguing it its own way with long held secrets buried for half a century. It was fairly easy to navigate and predict where the story was going, and that's OK. I found myself endeared to Sean and Noel as the loveable Irish rogues.
I guess my only real complaint is the timeline. When I began the story, I naturally assumed it was set in the present day but when the timeline shifts back to 1930 I thought that could not be possible. It would make the said character well over a hundred years old! Throughout the story, I came to estimate the present day timeline was set around the early 1980s although it is never stated. But given that they refer to it being fifty years I then assumed so. The other telling point being the introduction of a computer as if it were a foreign object. Today they are used everywhere but Grace had no knowledge or experience on one and its description was very basic to say the least. The fact that her husband owned a company that dealt in technology again lead me to believe the era was later. It was very confusing and I don't like confusion when reading. I like things to be stated clearly to avoid confusion and I don't recall anywhere in the story stating in what timeline the present day was set.
Again, that has to be my only complaint because the story was a delightful read that I really enjoyed. I note there is a second book to this series "The Irish Child" to be published in July. I look forward to rejoining Roone Bay once again and seeing how the first tale ties in with this second one.
I would like to thank #DaisyOShea, #Netgalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #TheIrishKey in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Sue had many genre books published (M&B and Virgin), under pseudonyms, and self-publishes her crime thrillers. She was on the committee of the Romantic Novelists’ Association in England, for whom she assessed typescripts. She has been a fiction tutor for the London School of Journalism for twenty years.
Sue has two grown-up children, a happy second marriage, and a bundle of cats and dogs. She moved to West Cork with her husband to undertake a farmhouse refurbishment project, foster their joint passion for playing Irish traditional music, and to invest time in their individual academic projects.
She recently completed a Masters in Creative Writing at UCC, taking the opportunity to explore diverse writing genres. She works with the Jeremy Murphy Literary Consultancy in the capacity of typescript analyst, ghostwriter, editor, and online publishing advisor. She loves good commercial fiction, and is a devotee of the Oxford comma.
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