Girl on the Leeside, Kathleen Anne Kenney
Girl on the Leeside, Kathleen Anne Kenney
List: $20.00 | Sale: $14.00
Club: $10.00

Girl on the Leeside

Author: Kathleen Anne Kenney

Narrator: Sile Bermingham

Unabridged: 10 hr 12 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 06/20/2017


Synopsis

A young, aspiring poet in a quiet Irish village thinks her life of books suits her perfectly until a charismatic newcomer from America broadens her horizons.

Siobhan Doyle grew up with her Uncle Kee at their family pub, the Leeside, in rural Ireland. Kee has been staunchly overprotective of Siobhan ever since her mother's death in an IRA bombing, but now that she's an adult, it's clear that in protecting her, Kee has unwittingly kept her in a state of arrested development. The pair are content to remain forever in their quiet haven, reading and discussing Irish poetry, but for both Siobhan and Kee, fate intervenes.
     A visiting American literary scholar awakens Siobhan to the possibility of a fulfilling life away from The Leeside. And her relationship with Kee falters after the revelation that her father is still alive. In the face of these changes, Siobhan reaches a surprising decision about her future. Lyrical and heartfelt, Kathleen Anne Kenney's Girl on the Leeside deserves a place alongside contemporary literature's best-loved coming-of-age novels.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Bam cooks the books on July 08, 2017

*4-4.5 stars. This is the July read for the Keep Turning Pages group. Many thanks to Doubleday for providing me with a free copy through their giveaway. Recommended for readers who enjoyed An Irish Country Doctor by Patrick Taylor. The setting of the story is a quaint pub located on a beautiful loug......more

Goodreads review by Diane on April 04, 2017

You know you loved a book when you are sad to have finished it ....when you sit and try to imagine the next chapter. Ireland has always called my name, so I was thrilled to win a giveaway set in that beautiful, mysterious country. Siobhan lost her mother when she was two. Her father was an unknown.......more

Goodreads review by Daniel on June 14, 2017

This review originally published in Looking For a Good Book. Rated 3.0 of 5 I don't like using the term "chick-lit" (though it might apply here) and instead prefer to use the term "pastel fiction" ... fiction which is soft, gentle, with beautiful prose that paints a nice picture for the reader. This......more

Goodreads review by Claire on June 25, 2017

Because I once lived in a small town in Connemara, at the gateway of the Irish-speaking area called the Gaeltacht, I look for those novels that depict the region as it is, for once one has spent significant time there, its ways and means register in the soul with perpetual resonance, leaving one fo......more

Goodreads review by Brenda on August 03, 2017

I was sad when this book ended. It includes lots of Ireland, brief mentions of Minnesota, poetry... how could I not love it?......more


Quotes

"In its hauntingly evocative Irish setting, this is a book suffused with poetry—real  poetry. It is a book of awakenings of every kind, and of  moving surprises. Like all good stories, as this local tale  unfolds it becomes universal."
—Edward Rutherfurd, Author of Paris and The Princes of Ireland

"Quiet, lyrical and sprinkled with verses of the Irish poetry Siobhan loves, Girl on the Leeside is a slim, beautiful debut about one woman taking her place in the world."
Shelf Awareness

"Lovers of Irish poetry will find this book a treat."
 Booklist

"A beautiful and poetic coming-of-age story."
Bustle