The Visitors' Book - Softcover

Callaghan, Mary Rose

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0863222803 ISBN 13: 9780863222801

Publisher: Brandon / Mount Eagle Publications Ltd, 2001

Synopsis

Peggy, who's Irish, and Charlie, American, have moved from New York to Dublin, in search of a more peaceful life. Charlie is having a mid-life crisis and has romantic illusions about living in the west; Peggy is more practical and fears returning to the grey streets of her youth. They buy a small house in Dublin 6, and get busy renovating it. But Peggy is certain that Charlie is having an affair with a sexy young poet, and in desperation she turns to her diary, narrating the story of the characters on their street and their first year in the house. Their troubles really begin when friends and relations from America start to visit. Charlie's quarrelsome step-parents want to see the Aran Islands; his romantic Southern cousin wants to marry an Irish redhead; his brilliant Texan grandson is besotted with Shelley, while his hyperactive ex-wife wants to rope them into making a film. And these are only a few of the visitors, all of whom are in search of happiness, which Ireland must miraculously supply. Reality, of course, turns out to be different from the dream, not just for the visitors but also for Peggy and Charlie.

About this title

Review

Callaghan takes the romantic visions some Americans have of Ireland and dismantles them with great comic effect . . . It is near impossible not to find some enjoyment in this book, due to the fully-formed character of Peggy who, with her contrasting vulnerability and searing sarcasm, commands and exerts an irresistible charm. --Sunday Tribune

Very, very funny... a brilliantly observed picture of Celtic Tiger Dublin... give yourself a treat. Read it! --Éilís Ní Dhuibhne

Synopsis

Peggy, who's Irish, and Charlie, American, have moved from New York to Dublin, paying all they have for a painfully small old and dilapidated house. "It was Charlie's brilliant idea to downshift in the first place," writes Peggy in her diary. "He wanted to retire to Tir na nOg, the land of youth, and all that. I was happy in old New York with cockroaches and all mod cons." And now that they've arrived Charlie is being pursued by "a sexy, tight-jeaned redhead of about twenty with killer eyelashes...Why is it, when you hit fifty, everyone looks young and beautiful?" But their troubles really start when their friends from America start to visit. And of course it's Charlie's fault: "Charlie's so proud of our new life that he called his stepfather last month: "We gotta place, Henry! Come on over."' So Henry and Rose arrive, only to be followed by a succession of visitors whose time with Peggy and Charlie is marked by cultural, dietary, hygienic, personality and many other clashes. Meanwhile, Peggy and Charlie have their own tensions and conflicts...and the tight-jeaned redhead is still around.

About this edition

• Publisher: Brandon / Mount Eagle Publications Ltd
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0863222803
• ISBN 13: 9780863222801
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 285