Review: A guaranteed best seller!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 11 6, 2013
Christine Flemming draws you in with Fionn's sure voice and sense of place and time-- Ireland in the 1930s through the 60s--I honestly feel like I've spent the last 36 hours in Ireland. A place I never knew I wanted to go but one that I longed to go back to five minutes after I finished the book. I can't remember the last time a book has so completely transported me to a different time and place. The world that Ms. Flemming has created will stick with me for a long while and I couldn't be happier about it. I find the best books contain characters we can connect with and relate to. The speed with which Ms. Flemming is able to establish a connection between the reader and Fionn is seriously impressive. This book is emotional, so be prepared to put your whole heart into it. This is not a lollipop and merry-go-round tinted revisiting of one's youth, but rather a very honest examination of a young boy being introduced to the world in a very harsh way. Watching Fionn as he comes to understand that he will always have to navigate through the good and bad in life, and then the subsequent realization that he has the strength to do so, is heart-warming and inspiring. Fionn is a good kid that will grow into a good man, but not without a lot of pain, hardship, loss, and hard work. Those he trusts most betray him and basically abandon him when he needs them the most. Those who would help don't know how. And it's up to Fionn to find a way to grow into the man his grandfather always believed he would be. He's a guy you can't help but root for.