I’m Jim McKeown, welcome to Likely Stories, a weekly review of fiction, and poetry.
Emma Donoghue was born in 1969 and now lives in Canada. Her works are widely admired. According to the jacket of Haven, “In seventh-century Ireland, a scholar and a priest called Artt has a dream telling him to leave the sinful world behind. Taking two monks—young Trian and old Cormac—re rows down the river Shannon in search of an isolated spot in which to found a monastery. Drifting out into the Atlantic, the three men find the island now known as Skellig Michael, an impossibly steep, bare rock inhabited by tens of thousands of birds, and claim it for God.
MONASTERY. “Trian’s stomach growls. He’s not twenty yet, still growing, and always hungry. // The first fast-day after Easter, and the hall is crammed with more than thirty monks and their Abbot, as well as the families who serve them and work the land, Even the Abbess is here, though not the nuns, who dine in their quarters at the other end of the double monastery. ” (3).
RIVER. “Hours later, Cormac kneels facing backwards, gripping a narrow oar. Even with their reduced load, the shallow craft is so weighted down that its sides rise only a foot above the water. // Cormac’s heard of boat sickness, but never knew it could rack a man so fast and so hard, like a malign spell cast by the motion of the river” (25)
TO SEA. “On The fourth morning of their voyage, Trian wakes in grey twilight and lies still. Only when light prises open his lashes does he force himself to his feet. It still feels off to sleep in his clothes: he brushes down the dishevelled layers. But he likes thinking of himself as a traveller, hardy, ready for anything. // The Prior’s on his knees already, of course, locked in prayer. Around the snoring Cormac stretches a carpet of bluebells, sprinkled with dog violet and small suns of coltsfoot, the odd spike of red plague-flower. // Trian leans over the river to splash his face. The water tastes green, with a tang of vegetation. He smooths his hair, reknotting the leather that ties it backs. He gets a scrap of cloth out of his pouch to rub his teeth and gums.
These three intrepid adventures in Haven by Emma Donoghue, face many harrowing experiences. You are sure to find many interesting stories along the way. 5 Stars!
Likely Stories is a production of KWBU. I’m Jim McKeown. Join me again next time for Likely Stories, and happy reading!