Lovers’ Hollow
REVIEWS
IRISH INDEPENDENT: ‘an impressive canvas… a captivating read… an achievement.’
Penguin Ireland are once again breaking new ground with… this debut novel from Orna Ross, the sort of massive book you could happily curl up with for the entire winter, an impressive canvas that interweaves a contemporary story of love, emigration and loss with the complex world of civil war politics, emerging women’s rights and buried secrets. It explores the influence of our families on who we later become, while still being a captivating read…
EVENING HERALD: ‘A Haunting Tale… a gripping story.’
…The writer is tackling a central theme – and one that’s been sleeping quietly in the corner during the almost-a-century since the State’s foundation: the ideals and ideas of the time and how they affect the very different Ireland of today. The story-within-a-story – desire, hatred, love and a killing in the Civil War – is loosely based on a Wexford murder of the time and its tragic consequences. This… huge book…is a gripping story. The writer has taken on a tough job – interweaving two stories and making them work together and strike fire off each other… [and] she has made brilliant use of original sources, including local historians in Wexford, adding the icing on the cake.
SUNDAY TRIBUNE: ‘…epic sweep…ambitious scope… an intelligent book.’
…It is the summer of 1995 and, after an absence of 20 years, Jo has returned to her home in the seaside village of Mucknamore, Co Wexford, to attend the funeral of her estranged mother. She sets herself up in a Spartan shed and begins making her way through her mother’s suitcase full of diaries, letters and papers, unearthing an unusually eventful family history. This is what gives the book its epic sweep…
If this sounds an ambitious scope for a debut novel, well, it is, but Lovers’ Hollow is an intelligent enough book to carry it off.
EMIGRANT ONLINE: ‘…a riveting story…vividly brought to life.’
“… [Orna] Ross has created a riveting story spanning the years from the end of the War of Independence in 1922 to the Ireland of the mid-1990s. It is a many stranded tale, carefully and vividly brought to life… In extending the action from Wexford to London to San Francisco, as well as covering a seventy-year period, Ms Ross has succeeded in presenting a remarkable story.”
BIBLIOFEMME: Ross has managed to pen an incredible debut that will have the reader absolutely enthralled.
Jo Devereux returns to Wexford for her mother’s funeral with mixed feelings; she hasn’t seen her mother in years. Once the shock of once again being home in Wexford has worn off, Jo finds herself agreeing to grant Mrs Devereux her dying request and write a family history. Family pride has cost Jo an awful lot over the years and even lost her the only man she ever loved. But, as she starts investigating the family background, she begins to understand certain truths, not only about her grandmother and mother but also about herself. Using a series of papers left by her mother, Jo chronicles the life of four generations of a family, concentrating on the women.
Ross has managed to pen an incredible debut that will have the reader absolutely enthralled.
www.thebookbag.co.uk. “I couldn’t put it down.”
I did wonder if I was going to like this book. The cover and the title suggest that it might be chick-lit and we’re not far into the book before I suspected that we were going to be dealing with a heroine who likes drinking too much and indulging in one-night stands. It didn’t take me long to change my mind though, and I read all 688 pages over a period of about three days - and this is a big, big story. It’s Orna Ross’s first novel, but it’s crafted with the skill of a veteran and the suspense is masterly. Jo Devereux is a strong, feisty heroine who will stay in my mind for a long time.
The plot neatly weaves together the story of the Devereux family for four generations - five towards the end - with the history of Ireland and this is a complex story. There are numerous plots and sub-plots, but not one is superfluous and they all build together to a satisfying and completely believable conclusion. There wasn’t a single loose end left untied but there was nothing that felt contrived…There’s a real ear for local dialogue and an ability to write dialogue without it sounding in any way stilted. She could make me laugh and cry, all within a few sentences…When I saw this book I thought that the obvious comparison would be with Maeve Binchy, but I don’t think that does this book justice. This book is epic in its scope and tackles difficult issues with skill and sensitivity.