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Latest book reviews by staff of Cork City Libraries

Joan Denise Moriarty : first lady of dance by Ruth Fleischmann
There but for the by Ali Smith
Fear not by Anne Holt
Dublin dead by Gerard |O'Donovan
The fort by Bernard Cornwell
The marriage plot by Jeffrey Eugenides
Saints and sinners by Edna O'Brien
The Matchmaker of Kenmare by Frank Delaney
A game of thrones by George R.R. Martin
All the bishop's men by Tom Mooney
Master of Rome by John Stack
Room by Emma Donoghue
Time on the ocean by Theo Dorgan
The story of Spain by Mark Williams
The Twelve by Stuart Neville
A great sacrifice by Gerry White and Brendan O'Shea
Books burn badly by Manuel Rivas
Captain of Rome by John Stack
Lovely flows the Lee by Francis Twomey and Tony McGettigan
The intrigue at Highbury by Carrie Bebris

Earlier book reviews may be accessed here

Joan Denise Moriarty: Ireland's First Lady of Dance
by Ruth Fleischmann

Joan Denise Moriarty: Ireland's First Lady of Dance, edited by Ruth Fleischmann has been published recently by Cork City Libraries. Two years ago Cork City Libraries published The Fleischmanns, a remarkable Cork family, to mark the centenary of the birth of Aloys Fleischmann Jnr.  Continuing this celebration of remarkable Cork persons the library service has now published the Joan Denise Moriarty study. The book is very much a companion to that earlier publication, as there were many parallels between Moriarty And Fleischmann, both artists, creators and indomitable activists for an Ireland that would place music, dance and the arts at the heart of daily life.
The book brings together five major pieces on Joan Denise, and five shorter pieces, beginning with a tribute by Domy Reiter-Soffer, collaborator and friend from 1962 to 1989.  These contributions tell of her life, the dance companies she founded and led, the music, and the dance.  The book concludes with four short pieces on her legacy, still vibrant and still relevant in the twenty-first century.
She was and is, as Ruth Fleischmann writes in the book, ‘the central figure for ballet in Ireland for a quarter of a century’. With the support of Aloys Fleischmann she organised the Cork Ballet Week in the Opera House, with the Cork Symphony Orchestra providing the music. From there they brought their shows to many Munster towns. Indeed for over three decades her two professional ballet companies brought dance from Cork to audiences right across Ireland. The book is available to be borrowed from all public libraries in the city, and is also available for sale in the libraries and in all good book shops.

 

There but for the
by Ali Smith

A man goes to dinner in somebody's house. It is not someone he knows, he is brougt along by a recent acquaintance. Between the main course and dessert he leaves the table, goes upstairs, enters the spare bedroom, locks himself in and refuses to come out. His acquaintance leaves, weeks pass and this novel relates the tale to the reader. There are four narrators, one for each chapter. There are four chapters, one for each word of the title. There is Anna’s story. She knew the man from decades earlier when they won a continental tour for aspiring writers. But is the story of Mark, the gay man who brought the man to the dinner, and his story is often interrupted by his rhyming and often obscene mother. May is the story of an old lady suffering dementia and confined to hospital. She also has a connection to the man in the spare room. The last chapter is told by a young girl, Brooke Bayoude, who appears in each of the other chapters. Brooke describes herself as a smartist, she loves facts and playing around with words. There are some terrible knock knock jokes in this chapter!
It’s unusual that the main character, Miles (the man who locks himself in), does no narration but the story is told around him. He is locked away in a self imposed exile, we don’t even know why. The book, especially the last chapter, is full of enjoyable and awful puns, rhymes, jokes, allusions, double entendres and the like. It is a simple story with peripheries, the characters are very believable (even if Mark’s mother is as annoying as Mark) and the writing is exquisite. Well done Ali Smith! There But For The is  thought provoking, entertaining and highly readable, and is available from Cork City Libraries.

Review by Paul Cussen 

Fear not
by Anne Holt

Christmas time in Oslo, with snowflakes in the air… an idyllic scene, but when police crime profiler Johanne Vik’s autistic teenage daughter Kristiane is almost run over by a tram, the dark underside of Norwegian society touches her and her policeman husband Ingvar Stubo. This is the fourth book in a series featuring Vik and Stubo, and its theme, hate crime, has been thrown into sharp relief by the case of Anders Behring Breivik, the far-right murderer of scores of young Nowegians at Utoya Island last summer.
Holt, one-time Minister for Justice in Norway, has written perceptively on Breivik, but is first and foremost a detective story, and soon dead bodies begin to surface ... a female bishop, a famous artist, a television personality’s lesbian partner, a non-national youth whose body is found floating in Oslo Bay. Meanwhile Johanne suspects that Kristiane is being stalked. Has the teenager been a witness to one of these murders? She and her parents had been guests in an Oslo hotel on the night when lesbian Marianne’s body was dumped in the basement. It is only with the help of her friend, an American human rights lawyer, that Johanne finds a link between these disparate murders and frees her family from an increasingly frightening campaign of intimidation.
Fear not is a slow but satisfying read, with engaging characters, fresh new backgrounds and scary insights on hate crime and intolerance, which are as dangerous here in Ireland as in Scandinavia or anywhere else. The book is superbly translated from the Norwegian, and is certainly full of tension and griping fear! ‘Fear Not’ is available to members now at Cork City Libraries!

Review by Tim O’Mahony

Dublin Dead
by Gerard O’Donovan  

A drug deal gone bad. A daughter gone missing. A hit man on the loose.  And five days to find the answers. Gerard O'Donovan's first novel The Priest featured reporter Siobhan Fallon and the crazed actions of a serial killer in Dublin. Siobhan returns in Dublin Dead’, O’Donovan’s second book, to help solve a missing person case. A young woman has disappeared seemingly without a trace. Siobhan begins the search, and it is not long before DI Mike Mulcahy uncovers a link between Ireland's largest-ever drugs haul and the murder of a Dublin gangster in Spain. Fallon and Mulcahy, the most unlikely of allies, are working together again and  O’Donovan’s second novel takes off at a traffic pace! And this may well be O’Donovan’s true skill - to keep the hunt for the missing woman, the drugs gang, and the mounting and apparently connected murders all moving along at a great pace which holds the reader gripped in the twists and turns of each story line.  Definitely a pulse quickening read, and available now at Cork City Libraries.
Review by Matthew Farrell

The Fort
by Bernard Cornwell 

It’s hard to believe that Bernard Cornwell has over 50 books to his name, > but this must be proof that he is doing something right! Indeed the ‘military historical fiction’ novel in which has specialised been in many ways defined by his character Richard Sharpe and also the ‘Starbuck’ books. Reception of his more recent books, particularly the 'Azincourt' series, has been lukewarm, as he has moved away from the established Sharpe and Starbuck Chronicles. So how does the most recent book ‘The Fort’ fare?

This book centers around a fairly obscure episode during the American War of independence, well it was news to me at any rate. The Penobscot Expedition of 1779 saw the establishment of a small British garrison in what is now Maine. Some 700 Scots Guards and 3 small war ships in total sre sent to build a fort and protect a harbour. The rebel government in Boston moves to destroy the fort and push the redcoats out. Against the British force an army of around 900 men and a fleet of 42 ships are. Brilliant stuff!

As always Cornwell has researched the period and the events in great detail, it flows from every page. The east coast of America is painted expertly, and makes for a great stage for the action to come. However it is the range of characters which make this a notch above some of Cornwell’s more recent books. The portrayal of the `rebels' I thought particularly interesting as the emergence of an ‘American’ national identity had only just begun. The British are not all bad guys either - Cornwell creates a lot more balance that that. Even if you not familiar with Cornwell previously, you'll not be disappointed with this book. Well worth a read, and it is available now at Cork City Libraries.

The marriage plot by Jeffrey Eugenides

Madeleine Hanna, the heroine of the new novel  by jeffrey Eugenides, The marriage plot, is a graduate in English from Brown University, Rhode Island, in the early 1980s. The book traces the intertwined lives of Madeleine and two men who are in love with her; Leonard Bankhead, a brilliant polymath suffering from manic depression, and Mitchell Grammaticus, a student of world religions and an aspiring mystic. The novel is both a satire, frequently hilarious, on the fads and foibles of the world of academia and an engrossing love story. Eugenides has a brilliant prose style with a marvellous gift for telling metaphors. The marriage plot, its title derived from one of the major themes of the Victorian novels beloved of Madeleine, is a compelling read that confirms the place of Eugenides in the front rank of contemporary novelists. The description of Leonard’s descent into mania is quite exceptional, displaying great insight and compassion. Mitchell’s travels in Europe and Asia and his meetings with an assortment of characters allow great scope for the humorous and satirical talents of Eugenides.
So, who wins Madeleine in the end? You’ll have to read the novel to find out. You won’t be disappointed.
The marriage plot is in stock in Cork City Libraries.
Review by Kieran Burke 

Saints and Sinners
by Edna O'Brien

This year Edna O’Brien became the first Irish author to win the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award! One of the judges, the poet Thomas McCarthy, said that the book is "a most faithful representation of the Irish condition”. O’Brien is sharp and incisive as well as being gifted with lyrical genius.
O’Brien must be tired of being reminded that she is in her ninth decade but she wears it well, using experience and a certain ‘je ne sais quoi’ to evoke heartbreak. In Manhattan Medley she writes “Not to go to you is to precipitate the dark, and yet I hesitate. It is not that I do not crave the light — rather it is the certainty of the eventual dark.” Her characters express their human frailty beautifully and utterly believably. Rafferty in Shovel Kings went to dig the blue soil of London around 1960 and now the barman says, “ ‘He doesn't belong in England and ditto Ireland’ . . . adding that exile is in the mind and there's no cure for that”. O’Brien communicates his loneliness by telling us that he cuts people out of his life “not from a hardness of heart, but from a heart that was immeasurably broken.” 
Of course there’s sex, from Delia listening to other people in Sinners to Millie’s wondering about her husband’s affair in Madame Cassandra. There’s more; so rich a tapestry that this reviewer cannot hope to do justice to the book but I can, with all my heart, urge you to read it.
In her acceptance speech she said, “I’d like to thank this wonderful festival for doing so much to stimulate the dying flower called literature.” She is a brilliantly gifted and accomplished writer and I, for one, was delighted that she won the Frank O’Connor Short Story Award.
Review by Paul Cussen

The Matchmaker of Kenmare
 by Frank Delaney

This is the latest work of fiction by Tipperary man Frank Delaney. While he has now lived in the US for many years, Delaney is still quite focused on the land of his birth as all of his fiction publications since he moved there are based in Ireland. His first book from America was titled Ireland, and it became a New York Times bestseller.
His most recent novel, The Matchmaker of Kenmare, is a sequel to his Venetia Kelly's Traveling Show. If you haven’t read this one yet, The Matchmaker of Kenmare can still be read on its own. Though, by the end of The Matchmaker you will likely want to read its precursor.
The story begins with Ben McCarthy, an Irish folklore collector, reminiscing about events long past, decades ago when he was in his 20s and 30s. We are brought back to an Ireland that existed in a bubble: Ireland during World War II, when Ireland was trying to stay out of the war by declaring itself neutral. It was 1943 when Ben first meets Kate Begley, the Matchmaker of Kenmare.  Ben works with the Irish Folklore Commission, and it is through this work that he met Kate. The story seems to be settling in for a period romance until an American Intelligence Officer, Charles Miller, steals Kate’s heart. It is through this character that Delaney introduces the war to the romantic Irish storyline . Charles proves to be dangerous and unpredictable, and his duties bring tragic changes to his, Kate's, and Ben's lives. The Matchmaker of Kenmare is well drawn and comfortable, all in all not a bad winter warmer. Available now at Cork City Libraries.
Review by Matthew Farrell

A Game of Thrones
by George RR Martin.

Though Martin's novel was published in 1996, the fact that HBO have chosen it for a TV dramatisation of the same name has refocused attention on it. Interestingly, most of the screen shots for the TV series were taken in Ireland, specifically in the Mourne Mountains and other parts of Northern Ireland. The book reads like a fantasy-world dramatisation of English history during the Wars of the Roses, with the Stark and Lannister families standing in for the Yorks and Lancasters. The story of these two families dominates the foreground of the work, but in the background lurks the more serious threat, the peril of the frozen North.

As fantasy goes, there is a reason why this book, among the thousands of other titles published, was chosen to be made into a television series. There is a richness in Martin's work which is rare in fantasy literature. The various factions have a strong and powerful history which is apparent in their songs and stories, clothing and weapons. Their struggles for power are so well constructed that the reader is pulled from one dastardly plot to another without ever losing his way. In essence Martin has created a believable world of richly drawn cultures. Creating credible fantasy worlds is not easy, as so many writers have tried and failed to do so. A game of thrones is one of those rare books that defines a genre and sets the bar. A word of warning: this book, though fantasy, features all the violence and brutality of real-world medieval European history...life is often short and bloody, and the book is not for children or the fainthearted. But read it now if you will at Cork City Libraries. You may, in fact, read the whole series, the latest instalment of which, A dance with dragons, was published in 2008.
Review by Matthew Farrell.

All the bishops' men
by Tom Mooney  

This week saw the publication of the long-awaited report into the handling of clerical abuse allegations in the diocese of Cloyne. At a time when the issue of clerical abuse seems to have entered the media spotlight again, let us look at a book on the subject published earlier this year. ‘All The Bishops’ Men’, by Tom Mooney, looks at the Ferns Dioceses, and the incidents which took place there over a 30 year period. Mooney covers the infamous Fr. Sean Fortune, and how his suicide over ten years ago was the catalyst for the first voluntary resignation by a bishop in the Catholic Church in Western Europe. He details how a combination of lack of supervision by Bishops, failed police investigations , and a culture of turning results for the victims of clerical abuse. The book also looks at the wholly inadequate response by the state, whether by politicians or the public service during this period. And finally we see how ‘a few good men’ said enough is enough.  
This is an excellently written and researched book, which cuts straight to the facts and shows the reader exactly the when, the what, and the how of these terrible events. And more importantly why they continued to happen for so long. From the role of Canon Law to that of the media this book leaves no stone unturned. There is even a lengthy appendix detailing interviews with Bishop of Limerick Donal Murray & Colm O’Gorman, now director of Amnesty International in Ireland, and former head of the abuse survivors' group One in Four. The Ferns Dioceses revelations caused one of the most painful episodes in recent Irish history, and it is only through a thorough understanding of the failings which brought it about that can we prevent something like this happening again. This book, available now in Cork City Libraries, is an important part of that understanding, even more so now in the light of more recent revelations from Cloyne diocese. 
Review by Matthew Farrell

Master of Rome
By John Stack   

This is the last book of Cork author John Stack’s Roman trilogy in which the Greek captain Atticus Perennis still strives against prejudice to overcome the Carthaginian navy. Stack hails from Carrigaline, and has proven himself to be quite the writer! This book opens with a scene from the battle of Tunis and sets forth at a great pace right to the end of the First Punic War. Atticus visits Rome a few times, giving the reader a flavour of the wider society outside of the action of the narrative. It also shows how a Greek, however talented and whatever his previous actions in the service of Rome, is not to be seen as an equal to a Roman citizen.
Septimus who stood with Atticus is no longer a marine and is back in the Ninth Legion. Septimus takes part in the siege of Panormus, protecting the siege engines and storming the walls. The affair between Hadria, his sister, and Atticus continues, developing the characters but not interfering with the action. And this book is action packed.
Hamilcar Barca, the leader of the Carthaginian forces, has a personal score to settle with Atticus, Septimus doesn’t think it right that his sister might marry Atticus (however good a man he is, he’s not a Roman) and consul Scipio Asina seems to have a personal grudge against him. All of that and there’s a traitor on his ship. 
I enjoyed the three books in the series and I look forward to more from this most entertaining Cork author. Sea battles, sieges, chasing blockade runners, torture and execution are all included as well as political scheming, sea storms and revenge making this a fast and very enjoyable read.   

Room
by Emma Donoghue 

“Today I'm five. I was four last night going to sleep in Wardrobe, but when I wake up in Bed in the dark I'm changed to five, abracadabra.”
Room opens gently and at the same time there’s an edge to it. The novel is told by the five year old narrator and tells the tale of young Jack and his mum who live in Room. Jack has never experienced Outside. He has always been in Room. The only other person he has encountered is “Old Nick” who brings their food and controls their electricity but he mostly comes at night when Jack is asleep.
I liked this book. It reminded me of John Boyne’s The Boy in the Striped Pajamas because it deals with a very sensitive topic but it is not gratuitous. There are no explicit scenes yet the subject matter is very dark. The book is divided into different sections, the first of which has been compared to Beckett for Beginners. Fear not, just when you think that you’ve had enough of the misery of their imprisonment (despite Ma’s clever, inventive and inspired games) something happens.
The second part of the book is very interesting. How does Jack deal with Outside? What is it like for someone who has spent their entire life in one room to enter the outside world, especially if they are at the centre of a media frenzy? What is it like for a family to reacquaint themselves with a daughter they haven’t seen in seven years? And how do they welcome her son, the son of her kidnapper? Not gory but dark, this is a fast and despite its theme an enjoyable read. ‘Room’ is availabe now at Cork City Libraries.

Time on the Ocean by Theo Dorgan
 
This is Corkman Theo’s second book based around a sea adventure, Sailing for Home published in 2004 being his first. Theo might be better known for his poetry, but he has many other strings to his bow. Editor, script writer, radio and television presenter, Theo has the kind of broad life experience usually found in a good travel/adventure writer. In Time on the Ocean, unlike his previous book mentioned above, Theo is this time looking for adventure and a connection to his past. Just inside the front cover we are presented with a map, detailing his voyage. Depart Cape Horn, skirt the Falkland Islands, strike out across the South Pacific, and drop anchor in Cape Town! Easy peasy! The journey of a life time! Nothing worth doing is ever that easy, as we learn from this book. From the growing attention to the weather, the repetitive routine of sailing life, overheating engines and the variety of wildlife there is never a dull moment. But nothing too life threatening either. Theo also is personally concerned with the history of his great-grandmother, who died off Cape Horn. The pace and tone is as you might expect from a poet, even and thoughtful. There is a gentle grace about this book, you will keep coming back to it and want to finish it in one read. Laid out as a diary, each chapter covers a day in the journey – so we get quite a detailed account of the journey. In total there are 35 chapters, what a wonderful way to spend a month! Time on the Ocean is available now at Cork City Libraries.

The Story of Spain
by Mark Williams  

Much of Spanish history is familiar, but Williams’ sympathetic study helps us understand how Spain once dominated Europe and still enjoys an enormous worldwide cultural and linguistic legacy.  He refutes the negative image of the country in the infamous ‘Black Legend’ of cruel and duplicitous Catholic power politics, and points out the greater visibility and political clout of native Americans in the former Spanish colonies compared to the misery and despair of the Indian reservations in British North America. He asserts too that there were fewer executed for religious reasons in Spain than in England in spite of the notorious Inquisition.
Williams sketches in the lives of the great Spanish artists and writers, and characterizes Spain’s rulers in telling vignettes, most memorably the nineteenth-century queen, Isabel, who said of her honeymoon “What can I say of a man who on his wedding night wore more lace than I?” After the horrors of the Peninsular War, poignantly depicted in Goya’s etchings, Spain was bedeviled by weak rulers and intermittent civil wars in the nineteenth century, and Williams contends that the Civil War of the 30s fits perfectly into that pattern.  He is even-handed on the atrocities committed by both sides in that conflict, but rightly abhors the utter lack of mercy shown by Franco to his defeated fellow-citizens, which has left an enduring bitterness in communities throughout Spain.

The Twelve
by Stuart Neville

Gerry Fegan hit the drink when he got out of the Maze. He was a hit man for the IRA but since the Good Friday Agreement things are different. This thriller is set in the North after the Troubles. Gerry Fegan may handcraft guitars but his is not a peaceful existence. He can’t sleep. He is haunted not just by bad memories but by the shadows of the ghosts of the twelve people he has killed, ghosts that are demanding that he kill again. Gerry’s only hope is to avenge their deaths by killing those responsible for them, his former paymasters.
Neville is an excellent writer and this is a very impressive debut. Fegan is not content with a paid salary for a nonexistent community job. He has his ghosts and he must atone for his wrongdoings by killing. This book is not for the faint hearted or those of a weak disposition. Neville’s hard boiled prose excels when he describes acts of violence and brutality.
The reader can see Fegan’s remorse for his actions and that helps to make him a sympathetic character. He is a man on the edge but the more he kills the less troubled he is. Unfortunately, the deaths of so many prominent individuals threatens the peace process so old comrades as well as enemies want him gone.  
This is a rollercoaster read with riots, bombs, sectarian murders, illegal dog fights, The Maze, diesel "laundering" plants, cemetery speeches, racketeering and Ulster politics. This is a fabulous debut from an author we hope to hear lots from in the future. Stuart Neville has been shortlisted in the Irish Book Awards for an Ireland AM Crime Fiction of the Year and as Best Newcomer of the Year.

Patrick Kavanagh & the Leader
by Pat Walsh.

In 1952 the Leader published an infamous profile of the poet Patrick Kavanagh, who was so incensed that he went to law with the newspaper a few years later. The Leader hired John A. Costello as their defence council in the ensuing slander case.
As with Pat Walsh’s first book The Curious Case of the Mayo Librarian which was very interesting, this book is fabulous.  It provides a look at the case and its effects on the key players. Essentially it is a transcript of Kavanagh’s impetuous action, with an often sympathetic and helpful commentary by Pat Walsh.
The libel case became a public sensation, receiving extensive newspaper coverage at the time, with lengthy queues of spectators outside the court each day. Costello’s detailed and masterful cross examination of Kavanagh which went on over a number of days, fatally undermined Kavanagh’s case. The jury found that Kavanagh had not been libelled. Kavanagh was both personally humiliated and financially devastated. The court case dragged on for over a year and Kavanagh's health began to fail. On appeal the decision was later overturned but the damage to Kavanagh had been done...
 Pat Walsh offers a brief summary of Kavanagh’s career (his early autobiography The Green Fool was withdrawn by the publisher because of a successful libel action against him by Gogarty) and puts meat on the bones of this chunk of history. Patrick Kavanagh & the Leader is available now at a number of Cork City Library branches.

 A Great Sacrifice
by Gerry White and Brendan O'Shea

The Great War was an event in Irish history which permeated to every community and to every level of society in Ireland. For this alone it equals any of the other great events which occurred in Irish history before, during and after. Understandably The Great War in Irish society and history has previously been overshadowed to a large extent, but in the passage of time this has been changing, slowly but surely. The publication of books such as ‘A Great Sacrifice’ ensure our understanding of events is enhanced, and in that way the process can only be accelerated.
The Irish National War Memorial Committee records the names of more than 49,000 Irishmen who died while fighting with the British and Imperial forces. Yet this number did not include those who had enlisted in the US army, at the time quite an attractive option for those who could not find steady work or those looking for citizenship. Neither does it tell us of the Irish women who served alongside those Irish men. This book does and in so doing is another vital step in addressing the facts of their sacrifice.
For lovers of books ‘A Great Sacrifice’ is a thing of beauty. In over 630 pages of photos, reprints of posters of the time and well written text White, O’Shea and their research team touch on almost every town and parish in Cork City and County. The work covers those who were resident in Cork prior to enlistment and those who had married into Cork families, so its interest is beyond that of the ‘county bounds’ and is really a work of national significance. Through it we see these people, our fellow country men and women, as just that: ordinary Irish people who found themselves caught up in a terrible war.
‘Today they lie in foreign lands beneath regulation white headstones…’ It’s time we brought their memory home. 

Burn Books Badly
by Manuel Rivas.

This book by Spanish author Manuel Rivas is simply a joy to read. Funny considering the dark subject which it covers. Burn Books Badly is a fictional book set around an actual historical event. We are all familiar with the images of mass book burnings in Germany during Hitler’s reign, but I had never heard of book burnings in Spain. Rivas builds the book around one day, 19th August 1936, early in the Spanish Civil War, when books were destroyed in Galicia. The main characters, instead of being politically or militarily motivated, are instead a boxer, a washerwoman, match girls and fishermen, the ordinary yet colourful local people of La Coruna. The local boxer and strong man called Hercules - yes the mythical name has more significance than the obvious - saves a rare book from the fires. Hercules is also the name of the La Coruna lighthouse, the emblem of which is an open book with light beaming out. This is a perfect example of Rivas's ability to combine folklore, metaphor and imagery, which permeates every level of this book. The Spanish Civil War is a very popular choice of subject for authors currently, with a sizable quantity of fiction being published in that setting in recent years. Yet Manuel Rivas has produced something which truly transcends anything else I have read in some time. This is a fantastic book, one which I can’t recommend more highly. Burn Books Badly is available now at Cork City Libraries.

Captain of Rome
by John Stack

Atticus, and Youghal native John Stack, is back. And despite his developing friendship with Septimus he still finds himself with new and powerful enemies. That’s what happens when you disobey orders and as we’ve seen in the first book, Ship of Rome, Atticus thinks more of common sense than politics. But this is about action, set within an interesting historical period. The author blends both land and sea action so we readers get quite a wide perspective, from naval action to Legionaries mixing it on land. This is good stuff, well written and fast paced. There is an element of the expected, the traditional bad guy, the two friends, the love interest and the action, but it is well put together
The hero, Atticus, captain of the Aquila is well realised, as is his best friend Septimus. The tensions between them are well set up. Atticus is of Greek extraction and treated with suspicion by his Roman associates, and this makes for interesting conflict as he doesn't always receive the recognition he deserves. Septimus, from an older lineage, has issues with Atticus, even while they are friends and allies, and he is not best pleased when he suspects that Atticus is courting his widowed sister Hadria.
Even if there are obvious heroes, there are no absolute villains of the piece as such, just guys you'd rather not cheer for. Motivations are explained and this gives the characters depth and allows you to see their side of matters. Scipio and Dulius are two wily politicians, creeping behind each other's backs to secure power in the senate, and their attitudes and ambitions impinge directly on Atticus and Septimus.
The setting of the Romans at sea is a different one and refreshing.
Well worth the read if you like action and adventure in the Roman period.
John Stack is a powerful storyteller. His stirring, epic adventure throws new light on the story of Rome and the sea battles are magnificent.

Lovely flows the Lee
by Francis Twomey & Tony McGettigan

Lovely flows the Lee by Francis Twomey & Tony McGettigan is a beautifully illustrated account of the Lee from its source to the harbour. The book is divided into four sections. Section 1 deals with the upper reaches of the Lee, section 2 with the valley, section 3 with the city and section 4 with the harbour. While the book has the appearance of a coffee table book the text is very well written and genuinely informative. The Corkonian who would not learn something from it would be very learned indeed. The quality of the photographs throughout is superb. The photograph of the source of the Lee where it is but a tiny rivulet will amaze those who suffered during the dreadful flooding of November 2009. As the text states ‘ The river, that will later be harnessed to generate electricity and later still become the centre of a busy city and a mighty harbour, comes into being tentatively in the boggy saddle between Bealick and Coomroe in the Shehy Mountains.’ I would commend readers to join with the authors on the journey of the Lee from the source to the sea. Lovely flows the Lee is available for reference in the Local Studies Library of Cork City Libraries. 

The Intrigue at Highbury
by Carrie Bebris

 This fifth novel in a series featuring Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett as amateur detectives is both a stylish Jane Austen pastiche, and an accomplished murder mystery. The Darcys arrive in Highbury, and meet Emma and her new husband Mr. Knightley. A guest at Donwell Abbey has died in suspicious circumstances, the two couples involve themselves in the intrigue, and become firm friends.
True to form, the ladies use their feminine instincts in the detection process, while their husbands maintain a cool detachment. Many of the characters of Emma make an appearance, including kind Miss Bates, and the interfering Eltons. But is the appearance in the village of handsome peddler Hiram Deal really a coincidence?
Though deliciously entertaining for Austen fans, you don't have to have read the novels to enjoy this or the other titles in the series. However I'm sure you will go on to read the originals, which are all available in Cork City Libraries.