Fiona of Kinsale: A Tale of Irish Love, Battles and Secrets
Fiona Gearaghty is growing up in Kinsale as Spain’s last Armada comes into port. Though she weds Thomas Lydon to conceal a shameful secret, their relationship turns into a love match. Fearing the English military occupation of Kinsale, the couple flee to the safety of Galway before Thomas’s career takes them first to Portsmouth and finally back home to Co. Cork.
Berthelotte’s book is thoroughly researched, but because it is narrated entirely from Fiona’s point of view, sometimes the effect is rather monochrome; we are told rather than discovering what Fiona is thinking. The plot dips soon after the halfway mark, with some episodes not really advancing the story. The book’s main problem for this reviewer, however, was one of voice: Berthelotte uses jarring modernisms such as ‘the help’, ‘freshen up’, and ‘take me on as her personal project’. Fiona talks of ‘enjoying our little adventure’ in Galway. Is this really what someone would say who had fled a siege, leaving her family behind? She goes to confession and likes the priest’s Leinster accent (we are in Connacht), and browses ‘a woman’s publication with sketches of some of the newer styles in London’ – in 1601?
Tighter copy-editing is needed to catch inconsistent punctuation, paragraphing, grammar errors, and unexplained tense shifts. The secret Fiona has concealed for years risks exposure towards the end, but that threat is almost immediately removed, too quickly for real dramatic tension. However, the novel is also the gentle and lyrical telling of a couple keeping faith with each other.
