Tipperary: A Novel of Ireland
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“My wooing began in passion, was defined by violence and circumscribed by land; all these elements molded my soul.” So writes Charles O’Brien, the unforgettable hero of bestselling author Frank Delaney’s extraordinary new novel–a sweeping epic of obsession, profound devotion, and compelling history involving a turbulent era that would shape modern Ireland.
Born into a respected Irish-Anglo family in 1860, Charles loves his native land and its long-suffering but irrepressible people. As a healer, he travels the countryside dispensing traditional cures while soaking up stories and legends of bygone times–and witnessing the painful, often violent birth of land-reform measures destined to lead to Irish independence.
At the age of forty, summoned to Paris to treat his dying countryman–the infamous Oscar Wilde–Charles experiences the fateful moment of his life. In a chance encounter with a beautiful and determined young Englishwoman, eighteen-year-old April Burke, he is instantly and passionately smitten–but callously rejected. Vowing to improve himself, Charles returns to Ireland, where he undertakes the preservation of the great and abandoned estate of Tipperary, in whose shadow he has lived his whole life–and which, he discovers, may belong to April and her father.
As Charles pursues his obsession, he writes the “History” of his own life and country. While doing so, he meets the great figures of the day, including Charles Parnell, William Butler Yeats, and George Bernard Shaw. And he also falls victim to less well-known characters–who prove far more dangerous. Tipperary also features a second “historian:” a present-day commentator, a retired and obscure history teacher who suddenly discovers that he has much at stake in the telling of Charles’s story.
In this gloriously absorbing and utterly satisfying novel, a man’s passion for the woman he loves is twinned with his country’s emergence as a nation. With storytelling as sweeping and dramatic as the land itself, myth, fact, and fiction are all woven together with the power of the great nineteenth-century novelists. Tipperary once again proves Frank Delaney’s unrivaled mastery at bringing Irish history to life.
Praise for Frank Delaney’s TIPPERARY:
“[T]he narrative moves swiftly and surely…A sort of Irish Gone With the Wind, marked by sly humor, historical awareness and plenty of staying power.” — Kirkus Reviews
“[A]nother meticulously researched journey…Delaney’s careful scholarship and compelling storytelling bring it uniquely alive. Highly recommended.” — Library Journal (starred)
“Sophisticated and creative.” — Booklist
“Delaney’s confident storytelling and quirky characterizations enrich a fascinating and complex period of Irish history.” — Publishers Weekly
“Read just a few sentences of Frank Delaney’s writing and you’ll see why National Public Radio called him ‘the world’s most eloquent man.’” — Kirkus Reviews, “Big Book Guide 2007”
From the Hardcover edition.
Born into a respected Irish-Anglo family in 1860, Charles loves his native land and its long-suffering but irrepressible people. As a healer, he travels the countryside dispensing traditional cures while soaking up stories and legends of bygone times–and witnessing the painful, often violent birth of land-reform measures destined to lead to Irish independence.
At the age of forty, summoned to Paris to treat his dying countryman–the infamous Oscar Wilde–Charles experiences the fateful moment of his life. In a chance encounter with a beautiful and determined young Englishwoman, eighteen-year-old April Burke, he is instantly and passionately smitten–but callously rejected. Vowing to improve himself, Charles returns to Ireland, where he undertakes the preservation of the great and abandoned estate of Tipperary, in whose shadow he has lived his whole life–and which, he discovers, may belong to April and her father.
As Charles pursues his obsession, he writes the “History” of his own life and country. While doing so, he meets the great figures of the day, including Charles Parnell, William Butler Yeats, and George Bernard Shaw. And he also falls victim to less well-known characters–who prove far more dangerous. Tipperary also features a second “historian:” a present-day commentator, a retired and obscure history teacher who suddenly discovers that he has much at stake in the telling of Charles’s story.
In this gloriously absorbing and utterly satisfying novel, a man’s passion for the woman he loves is twinned with his country’s emergence as a nation. With storytelling as sweeping and dramatic as the land itself, myth, fact, and fiction are all woven together with the power of the great nineteenth-century novelists. Tipperary once again proves Frank Delaney’s unrivaled mastery at bringing Irish history to life.
Praise for Frank Delaney’s TIPPERARY:
“[T]he narrative moves swiftly and surely…A sort of Irish Gone With the Wind, marked by sly humor, historical awareness and plenty of staying power.” — Kirkus Reviews
“[A]nother meticulously researched journey…Delaney’s careful scholarship and compelling storytelling bring it uniquely alive. Highly recommended.” — Library Journal (starred)
“Sophisticated and creative.” — Booklist
“Delaney’s confident storytelling and quirky characterizations enrich a fascinating and complex period of Irish history.” — Publishers Weekly
“Read just a few sentences of Frank Delaney’s writing and you’ll see why National Public Radio called him ‘the world’s most eloquent man.’” — Kirkus Reviews, “Big Book Guide 2007”
From the Hardcover edition.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
"Tipperary" is the entrancing tale of Charles O'Brien, the son of an Anglo-Irish family who devotes his adult life to the healing of the sick, the restoration and preservation of Tipperary Castle and the romantic pursuit of its possible owner, April Burke. Set early in the 20th Century, Charles meets with a collection of figures of Irish history including Oscar Wilde, William Butler Yeats and Michael Colllins. Although Charles' series of encounters seems to be incredible, it is entertaining. In the course of his exploits, Charles becomes involved in the Irish War of Independence and the following Civil War.
This book is an absolute delight. The dialogue reflects what one would expect to hear in Ireland, at least it reminded me of my cousins from there. Charles' experiences teach the reader much about Irish history. We are introduced to key personalities, the relationship between the Anglo-Irish and the Irish, the importance of Irish Manor Houses in the story of Ireland and a taste of the life lived by the revolutionaries. I found nothing offensive in this book. I enjoyed this book from start to finish and trust that anyone who loves things Irish will as well.
This book is an absolute delight. The dialogue reflects what one would expect to hear in Ireland, at least it reminded me of my cousins from there. Charles' experiences teach the reader much about Irish history. We are introduced to key personalities, the relationship between the Anglo-Irish and the Irish, the importance of Irish Manor Houses in the story of Ireland and a taste of the life lived by the revolutionaries. I found nothing offensive in this book. I enjoyed this book from start to finish and trust that anyone who loves things Irish will as well.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Frank Delaney rises to the occasion again in this account of the lives of a Tipperary family set amid the turbulent times of the Easter Rising and its aftermath, the Truce and subsequent Civil War. It's a jolly good read and keeps the reader interested from beginning to the end of the story.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
25 reviews
40 of 42 people found the following review helpful
A Wonderful Look at Ireland
27 Oct 2007
Format:Hardcover
"Tipperary" it is safe to say, is one of the most enjoyable works of historical fiction I have read.
At first I had a bit of a struggle with Delaney's style. Delaney told his tale from alternating points of view. He often switched points of view in the middle of a page and without any distiction other than the "voice" of the narrator. I have participated in enough reading groups to know that there are readers who would have issues with this. To them I would advise that they "hang in there" because the story is well worth the effort. It doesn't take long for Delaney's voices to become distinct.
The author's format allows for a very large perspective on the lives of his characters. I loved this about the book.
Delaney also has a very low key sense of humor which I really enjoy,very subtle but very funny when he uses it.
I didn't know very much about Ireland when I started this novel. I tend to shy away from sob stories or "poor me" type books. It was a wonderful surprise to hear about Ireland and the Irish people from Delaney's perspective. The story was heartfelt and not at all sappy or over dramatized.
After completing this book, I will no doubt read Delaney's first novel titled "Ireland". The author tells a good story in a captivating style.
At first I had a bit of a struggle with Delaney's style. Delaney told his tale from alternating points of view. He often switched points of view in the middle of a page and without any distiction other than the "voice" of the narrator. I have participated in enough reading groups to know that there are readers who would have issues with this. To them I would advise that they "hang in there" because the story is well worth the effort. It doesn't take long for Delaney's voices to become distinct.
The author's format allows for a very large perspective on the lives of his characters. I loved this about the book.
Delaney also has a very low key sense of humor which I really enjoy,very subtle but very funny when he uses it.
I didn't know very much about Ireland when I started this novel. I tend to shy away from sob stories or "poor me" type books. It was a wonderful surprise to hear about Ireland and the Irish people from Delaney's perspective. The story was heartfelt and not at all sappy or over dramatized.
After completing this book, I will no doubt read Delaney's first novel titled "Ireland". The author tells a good story in a captivating style.
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Tipperary
17 Nov 2007
Format:Hardcover
Played out against the backdrop of one of the most turbulent periods of Irish history, Tipperary doesn't read like a history lesson, yet it paints a vivid picture of those brutal days. If it is a love story, then it is a tale of the Irish and their great love of the land, revealed through journal entries, some penned more than half a century apart. This device works well, if a bit awkwardly in a few places. The overall effect is one of a chorus of voices weaving a complex tale of turmoil, with the predominant theme being the people's great passion for Ireland itself. The romances between people mostly take a back seat here, thankfully.
We see predominantly through the eyes of Charles O'Brien, who has an almost Forest Gump-like ability to meet and interact with nearly every important player who graced that period of Irish history. His encounters include that tragic genius Oscar Wilde, the legendary Charles Parnell, those brilliant writers William Butler Yeats and James Joyce, and culminate with his interactions with many crucial participants in the battle for Irish Home Rule, including Michael Collins himself. While I initially felt these meeting to be too contrived, I came to the realization that a member of the Irish upper class in that period could indeed have interacted with many of the history makers of those days.
I could barely put the book down while finishing off the final third of it, and having finished, I am left not only with a longing to fill those woefully large gaps in my knowledge of Irish History, but also with a desire to seek out more works by Frank Delaney.
We see predominantly through the eyes of Charles O'Brien, who has an almost Forest Gump-like ability to meet and interact with nearly every important player who graced that period of Irish history. His encounters include that tragic genius Oscar Wilde, the legendary Charles Parnell, those brilliant writers William Butler Yeats and James Joyce, and culminate with his interactions with many crucial participants in the battle for Irish Home Rule, including Michael Collins himself. While I initially felt these meeting to be too contrived, I came to the realization that a member of the Irish upper class in that period could indeed have interacted with many of the history makers of those days.
I could barely put the book down while finishing off the final third of it, and having finished, I am left not only with a longing to fill those woefully large gaps in my knowledge of Irish History, but also with a desire to seek out more works by Frank Delaney.
21 of 27 people found the following review helpful
A Major Disappointment
22 Nov 2007
Format:Hardcover
I enjoyed Frank Delaney's first novel Ireland : A Novel so much that I went on record as favoring it over Edward Rutherfurd's sweeping epic of Irish historical fiction. After reading 'Tipperary' I wonder if that earlier judgment was wrong or whether Delaney's second book has really fallen that far short.
'Tipperary' centers around an Irish itinerant folk doctor named Charles O'Brien who falls in love at the age of 40 with a young English woman named April Burke in Paris, but the love is decidedly unrequited. The telling of his story is choppy with multiple narrative voices each in a different time period. Delaney has O'Brien meet numerous lights of Irish literature and politics of the late 19th century - among others he meets Wilde, Yeats, Joyce, Shaw, Parnell, de Valera, and Collins. Annoyingly most of these people make only brief cameo appearances and add nothing to the story. What is the point of the name-dropping?
At nearly the half way mark, the book finally gets a purpose, albeit a rather unlikely one as O'Brien and April Burke join forces after a fashion to bring Tipperary Castle, an Anglo Irish Great House in O'Brien's neighborhood back to its former glory. With the Irish Civil War in the background, Delaney also finally delivers a little sustained history.
`Tipperary' disappoints and only in part due to high expectations based on Delaney's `Ireland'. Having waded through 200 pages of tedium as Delaney struggled to pull the story together, this reader found it hard to work up much of an interest in what happened to Charles O'Brien and April Burke and the bloody stupid `castle'.
Once I find an author whose work I enjoy I tend to go back to them again and again - like Edward Rutherfurd, for example: The Princes of Ireland: The Dublin Saga, Sarum: The Novel of England, London: The Novel. `Tipperary' has put readers on notice to exercise caution in picking up a Delaney novel not called 'Ireland'.
'Tipperary' centers around an Irish itinerant folk doctor named Charles O'Brien who falls in love at the age of 40 with a young English woman named April Burke in Paris, but the love is decidedly unrequited. The telling of his story is choppy with multiple narrative voices each in a different time period. Delaney has O'Brien meet numerous lights of Irish literature and politics of the late 19th century - among others he meets Wilde, Yeats, Joyce, Shaw, Parnell, de Valera, and Collins. Annoyingly most of these people make only brief cameo appearances and add nothing to the story. What is the point of the name-dropping?
At nearly the half way mark, the book finally gets a purpose, albeit a rather unlikely one as O'Brien and April Burke join forces after a fashion to bring Tipperary Castle, an Anglo Irish Great House in O'Brien's neighborhood back to its former glory. With the Irish Civil War in the background, Delaney also finally delivers a little sustained history.
`Tipperary' disappoints and only in part due to high expectations based on Delaney's `Ireland'. Having waded through 200 pages of tedium as Delaney struggled to pull the story together, this reader found it hard to work up much of an interest in what happened to Charles O'Brien and April Burke and the bloody stupid `castle'.
Once I find an author whose work I enjoy I tend to go back to them again and again - like Edward Rutherfurd, for example: The Princes of Ireland: The Dublin Saga, Sarum: The Novel of England, London: The Novel. `Tipperary' has put readers on notice to exercise caution in picking up a Delaney novel not called 'Ireland'.
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