“Strangers tend to be less judgemental, you know. It’s your own who pick the first stone.”
The Inheritance, by Cauvery Madhaven, is a slow moving romance with a strong sense of place. Set in and around Ireland’s Beara peninsula, its protagonist is Marlo O’Sullivan, a young man born and raised in Croydon by his sister and mother. He inherits a cottage in Beara – halfway up a mountain – from his uncles who were priests. On moving to live here he finds the locals welcoming, happy to have one of their own return after a generation away. It is 1986 but the land carries with it a long history, some of which is intertwined with the unfolding tale.
“That fella can hold grudges like no other man in the peninsula and that’s saying a lot when you are from Beara.”
The first part of the story introduces a small community of friendly, inquisitive but also helpful neighbours. Marlo is happy to cultivate friendships, giving back as much as he willingly takes. There is a feelgood undercurrent such as can be found in fiction – only rarely in life.
The plot moves forward when there is a significant death and the judgement of neighbours rears its head. In amongst the willingness to help through a crisis there is a frenzy of feeding on news in what is a small and long interlinked community.
“People are like that. It makes them feel better to measure their good fortune against the troubles of others.”
Once the various characters become a little less perfect the story becomes more easily immersive. At one of his several jobs, Marlo meets Kitty and is attracted to her. The locals are less enthusiastic as she carries baggage they have long disapproved of. Part of this involves her young son, Sully, who is mute. The threads of the tale being woven around him include another young boy who, in the early seventeenth century, got caught up in the genocide of his people, one of many horrific acts of violence perpetrated by those loyal to the English crown in their determination to rid themselves of rebel natives.
A strength in the telling is there are not too many descriptions of irrelevances, such as repeated details around looks or clothing. Plenty is provided on ticks and foibles, bringing characters to life. Where background is provided this adds authenticity to the way they behave.
The romance avoids the stupidity so often present in the genre – misunderstandings generated by foolishly kept secrets. Both Marlo and Kitty are forthright and open, but also natural in allowing their feelings to develop organically. Again, this may be factually unusual but also refreshing to read. Love can blossom without rushing into sexual encounters and description is kept to only what is necessary for understanding.
The sense of place is wonderfully rendered, helped for this reader by a small amount of knowledge of the area gleaned from writer Eoghan Daltun. The beauty of the landscape is tempered by the history being revealed within what becomes a sort of ghost story being told alongside – and in the more recent abuses occurring within the still revered Catholic church.
Marlo is, perhaps, a little too perfect but the writing style manages to mostly avoid being too saccharine. The denouement includes a potential disaster that, to me, seemed an unnecessary change of pace. Other than these personal criticisms, the story being told held my interest.
I would have liked to know what eventually became of the blind calf, and if Mary’s past secrets were ever revealed more widely. That I have elements such as these to ponder is a positive, keeping the book in my thoughts beyond the final page.
Overall, an easy-going and enjoyable read.
The Inheritance is published by HopeRoad Publishing Thank you to Linda Hill for sending me her proof copy. Do give her a follow at Linda’s Book Bag.
