No News at Throat Lake - Softcover

Donegan, Lawrence

3.72

166 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140277536 ISBN 13: 9780140277531

Publisher: Penguin, 2000

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A star Guardian journalist's account of his year (1998) working on the Tirconaill Tribune, a 32-page paper that serves the people of County Donegal. Having given up pop fame (salary �100,000, sex life hectic) for journalism (salary much less, sex-life self-starting), Donegan is well-prepared to immerse himself in Irish provincial journalism. The result is a wonderfully funny, affectionate account of a small Irish community that takes in farming and Gaelic football, IRA sympathisers and a visit from Newt Gringrich.

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Review:

Giving up one's dream career as a pop star is one thing--understandable, in fact, if half of what they say is true--but giving up a second, successful career as a Guardian journalist--a post which you readily admit is the realisation of a life-time ambition--could be considered, er, hasty. Whatever, Scottish-born Lawrence Donegan, sometime bass guitarist with Lloyd Cole and the Commotions, packs his notebook and, with nary a glance behind him, walks away from Farringdon Road to a new life in the remote, rural Irish village of Creeslough. Donegan, ay, to be sure, his very name it is that's brought him hot-footed back to delve into his hitherto little-known (and somewhat surprising) ancestry, soon blags his way into a reporter's job on the local Tirconaill Tribune. But then, for a newspaper that is often forced to give beached whales lead story status, the arrival in town of an ex-Guardian journo is not something that could in any way be described as uninteresting. The job is his, for little more than an hour or so's pitiful begging.

Alan Cumming, with his own Scottish accent and wonderfully lyrical Irish takes, makes a perfect reader of this beguiling, affectionate tale of a city lad who chooses to jump ship and get back to basics. As in any rural community, it is the brave, feisty and often outlandish inhabitants that make this audio book such a delight. Throw in a meeting with a powerful, despicable American politician and a Hollywood superstar, plus a disarmingly, hilarious account of Donegan's hugely unsuccessful foray into the complex, chaotic game of Gaelic football, and you're guaranteed to be smiling for almost all of No News at Throat Lake. --Running time: 2 hours 45 minutes --Carey Green

Synopsis:

This text presents a Guardian journalist's account of his year working on the Tirconail Tribune - only 12 pages long, with a circulation of 2500. Serving the people of the Donegal coast, the paper is published in the small coastal town of Creeslough, and it is here that Donegan lived during 1998. The town had a grocer's shop, a hardware store, one solitary pub and a pitch and putt course.

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