Away

From Library JournalLike a heartbreakingly romantic ballad of hard times, unrequited love, and lamentation, Urquhart's third novel (following Changing Heaven, LJ 3/15/93) is an entrancing saga of a family who must leave Ireland for Canada during the potato famine of the 1840s. As a young girl in Ireland, Mary is taken "away" to the faeries after a young sailor (a faerie-daemon) whom she rescued dies in her arms. Although she does eventually marry, have a family, and start a new life in the Canadian wilderness, Mary still hears the call of her sailor and finally leaves her family to live the rest of her life alone by a lake. Her daughter Eileen, in turn, falls in love with an Irish nationalist whose passion is only for his cause; she spends the rest of her life "away" in thoughts of him. Urquhart beguiles the reader with a cast of lovable eccentric characters in a wonderfully surreal world that includes a talking crow and a man who can charm skunks "away." An extraordinary achievement; highly recommended.Patricia Ross, Westerville P.L., OhioCopyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. From BooklistThe Irish who migrated to Canada fleeing the potato famine had an impact and history well worth noting. Urquhart begins with the story of Mary, a maiden who becomes enamored, perhaps possessed by the spirit of a sailor who dies in her arms on the beach of her Irish homeland. Mary and her earthbound husband, Brian, migrate during the famine at the urging and expense of their landlord. It is this same landlord who appears in the New World to give their son, Liam, and his sister, Eileen, a new start after their father's death. Mary's fey heritage is passed on to her daughter and great-granddaughter Esther O'Malley Robertson, raised in Canada on the shores of Lake Ontario. Urquhart's blending of the spiritual and political sides of the Irish makes an amazing story told in a language that is melodious and laden with complex imagery. At the same time, her characters are unique people filled with the laughter and brooding legacy quintessential to the Irish. Denise Perry Donavin