The Heather Blazing

I like the coastal backdrop, the pace of the story, the characters. Look forward to go back to it at the end of a busy day.

This was a beautiful story. The same author wrote "Brooklyn," which I also loved. The two books are very different. This is about an Irish judge looking back at his lonely childhood, career and marriage, and also the land where he lived. It is written in lovely prose and explores his feelings as he looks back on his life and the people he remembers and loved throughout his life. I highly recommend it,

Brilliant writing. Toiben was able to show the reader how the events that impacted on the main character as a child shaped his behaviour and interation with those closed to him when he was an adult.The decision he made as a Judge that affected the young school girl who had a child made you think about how difficult it must be to separate out emotions when required to work within a legislative framework.

An elderly judge Eamon Redmond lives with his wife Carmel and travels to the fair city of Dublin everyday to fulfill his high court role. A quiet, thoughtful, deeply intellectual man Eamon often reflects on his life in the present and moments of his childhood that helped shape and create the person he is today. His childhood was a time of order, daily chores, and routine but always under the auspices of the only binding force in the community; the catholic church. A church that demanded allegiance and in return for such devotion and faith man could be saved from the evils of the world, but "without God’s help, we will all die in our sinful condition and remain separated from God forever". The truth of the situation was that the church offered few answers for a young man exploring his sexuality, trying to make sense of the often painful passage from boyhood to manhood. However politics and the allegiance to a particular party played a much more prominent role in the life of the citizens with its constant reminder of past struggles and romantic leaders most prominent of which was Eamon de Valera and the famous Easter rising of 1916 against British rule. As Eamon Redmond becomes immersed in the politics of the age he meets and falls in love with a young party worker Carmel who is equally smitten by her admirer's oratory skills and his ambitions within the political arena.The story is told in two parts a reflection, often romantic, view of childhood with its warmth and sadness at the passing of close relatives, and in contrast adulthood, responsibilities and complex decisions that constitutes the daily routine of a high court judge. To me The Heather Blazing celebrates the importance of family and how the youthful formative years impress and influence our decisions and mindset into adulthood. Colm Toibin is a great observe of daily routines and the Ireland he describes reminds me, as an Irishman, of my own childhood with simple family routines embedded forever in my mind....."They all settled around the fire, the women with glasses of sherry, the men with beer, the three boys with glasses of lemonade. Eamon watched as his father tipped his glass to the side and poured the beer in slowly, letting it slide softly down the edge of the glass"....The harsh beautiful untamed Irish landscape with wild unpredictable seas somehow compliments the simplistic yet deeply moving narrative of one of Ireland's finest authors.

For fans of Toibin, this book is typical fare. For the uninitiated, you will find Toibin to be economically eloquent and able to draw vivid characters with what seems to be great ease. Much of his work focuses on relationships broken in some way. This book is no different. What keeps me coming back to his work is the beauty of his writing.