Beth Lordan

Lyle and Mary Sullivan decide to retire to her home town in Ireland. There they gradually adjust to the climate, the reality of old family relationships, and the surprise of new romantic temptations. But their relationship survives, built on 30 years of knowing each other, and on Mary's patience with Lyle's gruff exterior. When Mary dies, Lyle is confronted with deciding where his home really is.

This was interesting, a retired couple settles in Ireland (he's American, she emigrated from Ireland to marry him). It's basically an exploration of the way family relationships, including but not limited to marriage, change and evolve over the course of time and distance. I'm not sure why she calls it a novel in stories because all the chapters were related and chronological. I suppose you could take any given chapter on its own and it would be meaningful in its own right. Maybe that's show more why.

Someone tagged this as "Irish Literature." It's not. The author lives in Carbondale, Illinois. As far as I can tell, she's not Irish, the novel just takes place in Ireland. Most of the characters are American. show less

This is an absolutely beautiful book. Each story stands on its own, but they all come together to make an almost perfect novel in stories. The characters are well developed. The narrative perfectly written. Beth Lordan is an English professor at SIU.