The Heather Fields and Other StoriesIn The Heather Fields, Reynolds' only friend has drowned and his neighbours have turned against him. Facing a cold and lonely future, he is simply marking time until his death, with only some pigs, chickens and the scolding shade of his mother for company. Life is as cruel as the land in The Eye of the Beholder. Living alone on a small, failing farm, Augustine Honeywell yearns for companionship, but God has dealt him 'a hand with not even one trump. Not an ace, not a king, not a knave; and above all, not a queen.' And in Down on the Farm, a modest lottery win allows the lustful Valentine Kidney to escape the 'wholesome and disinfected petting' that passes for romance in Killnamaine. Set in island communities in small-town rural Ireland, peopled with the marginalized and forgotten, these nine stories address life's most profound questions - the nature of existence and the purpose of being. |
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Page 104
... grinning . ' Right ! ' he said . ' So ! It's Brother Reynolds who thinks he can get away with it now that he's sponging ... grinned , standing up very tall . She looked up at him again . " This time , ' she said , ' I know they won't pay ...
... grinning . ' Right ! ' he said . ' So ! It's Brother Reynolds who thinks he can get away with it now that he's sponging ... grinned , standing up very tall . She looked up at him again . " This time , ' she said , ' I know they won't pay ...
Page 133
... grinning at the world . From the moment the train jolted into movement Reynolds lost all sense of reality . The train moved slowly at first through the back yards of Calais , then out onto a wonderfully rolling pasture - land with trees ...
... grinning at the world . From the moment the train jolted into movement Reynolds lost all sense of reality . The train moved slowly at first through the back yards of Calais , then out onto a wonderfully rolling pasture - land with trees ...
Page 163
... grinned , leaned forward and tapped him gently on the shoulder . ' I'll just be a few minutes . Then we'll find a café somewhere and have cakes and coffee . And maybe a big Italian ice cream . How about that ? ' Reynolds grinned and ...
... grinned , leaned forward and tapped him gently on the shoulder . ' I'll just be a few minutes . Then we'll find a café somewhere and have cakes and coffee . And maybe a big Italian ice cream . How about that ? ' Reynolds grinned and ...
Contents
The Heather Fields | 3 |
The Long Goodbye | 175 |
The Eye of the Beholder | 189 |
Copyright | |
2 other sections not shown
Common terms and phrases
beauty began Big Tom bike body breath Brother Bonaventure Brother Juniper Brother Leo Brother Sebastian bushes cats compline darkness Deirdre door Doreen earth eejit empty Ephraim face Father fingers floor furze garden gazed gently girls glass glaur Gráinne grass grinned hand hard head hear heard heather Heatherfield hens Hugey inside Joan Macken jungle music kitchen laneway laughed leaned lifted light living looked Lucozade Mason memory of light monastery Mother mouth moved night Nora once pain pigs poem quickly Randy Reynolds felt Reynolds knew Reynolds stood Reynolds's rhododendron road seemed shifting shook side silence sitting slowly smiled somewhere soul sound soutane Springdale stomach stones suddenly suffering thing thought tiny Tom rushed took tried turned Valentine vellum voice waited walked wall watched window wonderful words yard