Book description
Rural Ireland in the 1960s: if you were a boy, you listened to
Luxembourg on the wireless, went to the pictures, went hurling up the
fields with your best friend, thought about what the big boys got up
to with the girls, and in particular what your brother did with his
girlfriend, Minnie. Your mam ruled the house and you watched out for
your father - the old lad - who was liable to fly into rages and give
you a right ringer when you weren't expecting it. Most of all, you
knew everything about the village where you lived, and everyone there.
And Tony did; he was one smart boy, ready for anything - at least he
thought he was until the day he saw his father with Mrs Rourke and was
involved in an accident that changed everything.
Dancing with Minnie the Twig is Tony's story. It is a haunting and
very special novel as, on the day of his funeral, he watches his
family, friends and the rest of the community arrive at the church and
prepare for the service to mark the end of his short life. In terms of
its rural setting and its focus on a small community that, even in
Ireland, has long since ceased to exist, the book has real echoes of
Dancing at Lughnasa. It's Irish in the best sense of the word; the
characters step out of the pages to meet you, and although Tony is
dead, his narrative voice blazes with life. Very funny in parts, the
novel is overlaid with a melancholy for times past that lingers long
after the final page has been turned.
Mogue Doyle
has been in the building trade most of his life. He and his family live
in County Wexford, Ireland.
