The Library at the Edge of the World, by Felicity Hayes-McCoy

The Library at the Edge of the World, by Felicity Hayes-McCoy

In the bestselling tradition of Fannie Flagg and Jenny Colgan comes Felicity Hayes-McCoy’s U.S. debut about a local librarian who must find a way to rebuild her community and her own life in this touching, enchanting novel set on Ireland’s stunning West Coast.

As she drives her mobile library van between villages of Ireland’s West Coast, Hanna Casey tries not to think about a lot of things. Like the sophisticated lifestyle she abandoned after finding her English barrister husband in bed with another woman. Or that she’s back in Lissbeg, the rural Irish town she walked away from in her teens, living in the back bedroom of her overbearing mother’s retirement bungalow. Or, worse yet, her nagging fear that, as the local librarian and a prominent figure in the community, her failed marriage and ignominious return have made her a focus of gossip.

With her teenage daughter, Jazz, off traveling the world and her relationship with her own mother growing increasingly tense, Hanna is determined to reclaim her independence by restoring a derelict cottage left to her by her great-aunt. But when the threatened closure of the Lissbeg Library puts her personal plans in jeopardy, Hanna finds herself leading a battle to restore the heart and soul of the Finfarran Peninsula’s fragmented community. And she’s about to discover that the neighbors she’d always kept at a distance have come to mean more to her than she ever could have imagined.

I purchased this book at our local bookstore in the clearance section.  You know the ones where you pay $10 for three paperbacks?

I thought it was a bit slow to start with this book.  It took a while for me to warm up to the story.  I found Hanna a hard person to like.  Her standoffishness (is that such a word?) was very off putting.  However when the story got to the part of the threatened closure of the library, her personality became more appealing.

One thing I did enjoy though was the descriptions of the area.  You could visualize the wind sweeping in off the sea and how green everything was...….they do get a lot of rain in Ireland!!  The restoration of the cottage was a good part of the story as well as that was where the character Fury came into play and he truly was a "right character."  Again I found him easy to visualize thanks to the author's great description of him.

Stars out of 5 : 4 If you can hang in there through the first few chapters, this book becomes more and more interesting, and is well worth the read.

This is my own review, I purchased the book myself.