Irish Gold A Nuala Anne McGrail Novel By Andrew M. Greeley

This is the first of the Nuala Anne series and Greeley is just getting warmed up I enjoyed this novel in two layers I finally was able to read the story of how Nuala and Dermot met and fell in love which was good like coming full circle in getting to know a friend The second layer I enjoyed was Greeley fictionally solving the murder of Michael Collins The history included in the book and the way Greeley retold it through the eyes of Dermot's grandparents was really interesting This was a fun and uick I had to know what happened read Other books in the Nuala Anne series are in my opinion better because Greeley has had time to become better acuainted with his characters and can therefore bring depth into their personalities and relationships 493 pages I may not put Andrew M Greeley at the top of my list of favorite authors if I don't have one of his books in my hand but I always remember why I love his books so much when I'm actually reading one They're very charming and they make me want to walk around talking in Irish slang and saying things like Go along with ye and And aren't you a terrible gobshite altogether? I've only read the Nuala Anne books so far I had the added bonus of reading this book on a plane back from the west of Ireland where I had just visited many of the locations mentioned in the book which just makes it that much betterNuala Anne the Irish main character who sees bits and pieces of events from the past and feels she must solve the mystery surrounding them is absolutely charming and Dermot Michael her American suiter is uite loveable as well The story is fun though those who don't enjoy history might get bored in some of Greeley's books during parts where Dermot writes Nuala long historical accounts to help her puzzle out the mystery she's trying to solve Personally I love them even in later books when the mysteries are in Chicago instead of Ireland I'll probably only review this book but I love all of the Nuala Anne novels I just think they're grand altogether And wouldn't you be a terrible eejit not to read them as well? x-men I am reluctantly drawn to this series This is the first in the series and I’m only getting this first book after reading a few others As the series goes on Greeley’s worship of the Irish and the representation of God’s love in a man and woman’s relationship thinly veiled as the sexual relationship gets a bit cloying and bit too much at times It was these recollections and feelings that made me almost want to skip this book and I wondered why I decided to reuest it from the library to read I think however that Nuala Anne McGrail has captured my interest and a bit of my heart I think I really like her and this character is what draws me to these books The overly sentimental love of the Irish and the fixation on the sexual bond between men and woman is present in this book but as the first in this series it is to a much lesser degree than the subseuent books The story is basically told from Dermot Michael Coyne’s perspective â€" a young Irish American from Chicago IL I guess this draws me to the series as well I’m a born bred and lifelong Chicagoan though not of Irish descent I’m familiar with the reverence and love Chicago seems to have held for the Irish especially as I was growing up â€" though it has diminished over time and as the demographics of the City have changed It doesn’t help that I married an Irish American man as well so the Irish or Irish American culture has become part of my life In any event this was an engrossing tale and I was absorbed from the beginning to the end It centers about the Irish hero and legend Michael Collins and his leadership and mysterious death in the early 1920’s as Ireland was struggling for independent rule from Britain An alternative fictional resolution of Michael Collin’s death is offered in this book and involves Dermot’s grandparents Liam and Nell Pat Pa and Ma who were young lovers at the time of this turmoil in Ireland Dermot stumbles upon Nuala a young Trinity University student in Dublin and is entranced with her and she really leads the way and helps him solve the mysteries in this book I know I will be weak because it the Irish worship and sexual focus grates on me and I will read another in this series again I need to learn how Nuala grows and matures She is so interesting to me Sure and didn’t I start out not liking this book at all at all? And didn’t I just say to meself “If this writer uses ‘scatology’ or ‘shy child’ again I’m going to lose me mind?” And wasn’t it me who thought “This Dermot Michael and this Nuala Anne aren’t they just the focking eejits and I might be about bashing his brains in with a poker and stuffing her face with rags to slow the gobshite were they truly alive alive” Wasn’t the Irish history lesson in the beginning a bit drier than those foreign sands in Egypt and the story just as limp as a eunuchs member? I’ll admit it to the writer himself himself it was And I swear by Brigid Patrick and Columcile weren’t the two of them just neat and fancy? Her a virgin and looking like a Celtic Goddess and him a great big fockingrichyank amadon who doesn’t want to take advantage of her as he’s all of 5 years her senior Bollocks isn't it Does the pope shite in Rome?Now the story of Nell Pat and Liam Tomas that’s where the real interest lies A beautiful tale that had me overlooking the writer himself switching narrators every focking second as if he hasn’t taken a basic course in creative writing And wasn’t the Irish feel of it just fascinating and the immersion in the vernacular just as enthralling? C'mere now wasn't my great great gran a Russell herself off the boat and me own sweet little one Grace Anne with the red and the green Didn’t I just say they were? Errr what I mean to say is this book is solidly in the “so so” category x-men I cannot gush enough about how much I adore this book this was my 3rd time reading it The first time I was in High School Father Greeley spins a tale so extraordinary you feel like you are right in the book As if you are indeed one of the charactersHe creates people that are easy to relate to to understandFrom the very start it's easy to fall in love with the people of Ireland and their plightThis story is as much a love story as it is a mystery Not just a romance novel but a love of country freedom and the heroes that help you to save all which you hold dearMoving onto Irish Lace sometime soon x-men

Bestselling novelist Greeley than 15 million copies of his books in print brings readers a contemporary novel of suspense and love A Chicago man travels to Ireland to investigate his family's mysterious past but finding answers may prove to be the death of him for his uest is linked to the current peace talks between Ireland and England Soon a beautiful student at Dublin's Trinity College is the only one who can save him Irish Gold A Nuala Anne McGrail Novel

Andrew Greeley launches the Nuala McGrail series with a delightful story of Dermot meeting Nuala the west Ireland beauty in Dublin that is a student at Trinity College? While trying to find why his grandparents left Ireland never to return he employs Nuala to translate his grams diary There are those that don't want the truth to become known Dermot is deliberate while Nuala uickly starts to put the puzzle together They become smitten with each other but personalities cause difficulties Working around a mugging and other attempts to deter them from finding the truth Greeley leads the reader on a tour of the Irish Troubles He lays groundwork for future tales 493 pages This is possibly the most poorly edited book I've ever read which distracted from it for me That said a couple of the storylines kept me reading The history of The Troubles and the country's history in general is so very complicated I don't think I'll ever understand it so that part of this book was difficult for me to follow and keep track of who was on which side Still it was an interesting weaving together of historical data and fiction x-men The best part of this book is the Irish lingo and way of speaking I loved the sing song melody of the Irish way of speaking The downside to this book is that the mystery was a bit too complicated too many extra people and agendas The other thing that I just couldn't get past and why I won't be reading in this series Dermot one of the main characters is constantly thinking about Nuala's the other main character breasts and it gets to be way too much I don't mind a little of that but this was constant throughout the book Plus the book was written by a priest I just couldn't get over the yuck factor of an elderly priest thinking about boobs uite so much it was a bit obsessive This book is difficult for me to rate Both the mystery and the romance seem to be hidden behind so much Irish history I couldn't absorb it all and it is not so much historical fiction as it is historical speculation for so much of this is not genuine Irish history at least not recorded so I guess it MIGHT have happened this way There is a lot to ponder and I think it is rather well written I however found it a bit tedious and not a favorite x-men This was a re read as I had first read this back when it first came out in 1994 and I enjoyed it now just as I enjoyed it then I like the playful banter between Dermot and Nuala and how the author talks about places in Ireland and Irish history which I can Google now to learn Now on to book 2 x-men