A Very Irish Christmas

This collection is the most varied sub-genre of stories I have ever read under a particular genre. Holy sugar.

“Shopping for Christmas Dinner” from the Green Road by Anne English

This was the first story I picked and it is exactly what the title says: it follows Constance as she does her errands before going shopping. It tells the gossip in a few details of each house she goes to. Then off to the market where more family gossip is detailed. There is more attention paid to the food purchased than forming any connection to anyone I kept waiting for the story to start.

The Christmas Cuckoo by Frances Browne

I loved this story by Frances Browne. The moral of the story is one I wholeheartedly support as it is better to be happy than rich. Though Browne indicates that if everyone gets happiness from you then they will gift you with things just isn't true (laugh). I wish that spare had found love too.

Untitled by Bernard MacLaverty

A dark tale indeed is what Bernard MacLaverty has given us. Electric shock treatments, bombs, broken knee caps, threats of harm - this is no ordinary holiday tale. The question asked is if you decide not to participate in all parts of a revolution are you a traitor to the cause? Are you painted with the same brush for all acts done by the group even though you have no knowledge of them? Can you just stand still and be silent in a war going on around you? Like I said, it is very dark ideas for a holiday story.

The whole collection is a mix of “traditional,” the mundane, dark, and everything else in between. If you want a different kind of holiday mix for your season, A Very Irish Christmas is the book for you.

I received a free copy of this book and I am writing a review without prejudice and voluntarily.