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Bogmeadow's Wish
When Cooper Coghlan arrives in Ireland with the cremains of his grandfather, Finn Coghlan, he has one Let my ashes blow in the wind. You'll know the place when you come to it. I'll be there, telling you. He also has tender
memories of his grandfather's exaggerated stories of Irish wonder and magic--stories of leprechauns and legends and the mysterious power of fate. But he does not have the story of why his grandfather left Ireland as a young man.
Mesmerized by his romantic vision of Ireland, Cooper begins his search with the unknowing help of friends in America who have employed a charming, down-on-his-luck Irish actor named Sandy McAfee to con his way into Cooper's life as his guide. Yet neither is prepared for the presence of Kathleen O Reilly, a public relations specialist whose tour on behalf of the NewTree campaign is eerily parallel to the travels that Sandy plots in leading Cooper on his hunt for his grandfather's ghost. And in those landmarks--Waterford, Youghal, Cork, Killarney, the Ring of Kerry, Tralee, Kenmare, Dingle--the fate of the Irish that Finn Coghlan talked of magically brings Cooper and Kathleen together.
Yet, there is a truth between the two of them that not even the enchanting tale of Finn McCool and Sally Cavanaugh, or of Patrick the Believer, can resolve. For that, Cooper must use the one gift bestowed on him as a child by his grandfather--Bogmeadow's wish.
memories of his grandfather's exaggerated stories of Irish wonder and magic--stories of leprechauns and legends and the mysterious power of fate. But he does not have the story of why his grandfather left Ireland as a young man.
Mesmerized by his romantic vision of Ireland, Cooper begins his search with the unknowing help of friends in America who have employed a charming, down-on-his-luck Irish actor named Sandy McAfee to con his way into Cooper's life as his guide. Yet neither is prepared for the presence of Kathleen O Reilly, a public relations specialist whose tour on behalf of the NewTree campaign is eerily parallel to the travels that Sandy plots in leading Cooper on his hunt for his grandfather's ghost. And in those landmarks--Waterford, Youghal, Cork, Killarney, the Ring of Kerry, Tralee, Kenmare, Dingle--the fate of the Irish that Finn Coghlan talked of magically brings Cooper and Kathleen together.
Yet, there is a truth between the two of them that not even the enchanting tale of Finn McCool and Sally Cavanaugh, or of Patrick the Believer, can resolve. For that, Cooper must use the one gift bestowed on him as a child by his grandfather--Bogmeadow's wish.
291 pages, Hardcover
First published March 11, 2011
5 people are currently reading
75 people want to read
About the author
Terry Kay
61 books107 followersTERRY KAY, a 2006 inductee into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame, is the author of The Book of Marie, recently released by Mercer University Press. Kay has been a sports writer and film/theater reviewer (Atlanta Journal-Constitution), a public relations executive, and a corporate officer. He is the author of nine other published novels, including To Dance with the White Dog, The Valley of Light, Taking Lottie Home, The Kidnapping of Aaron Greene, Shadow Song, The Runaway, Dark Thirty, After Eli, and The Year the Lights Came On, as well as a book of essays (Special K) and a childrens book (To Whom the Angel Spoke)."
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
June 6, 2012
I picked this up on a whim when I saw it at the Library. I loved Kay's "The Valley of Light" and that experience combined with the promise of a whimsical Irish-based story was enough to merit bringing it home. Once I opened it -- well, I had to read page 1 several times because immediately I was captured by some beautiful thoughts that needed a little more time to sink in.
Terry Kay has a lyrical style of prose that feels both poetic and empathetic. It doesn't feel contrived but I frequently get those moments where I think "that's exactly how it is but I didn't have those words." I like that. Plus he sets character in telling words without explaining all the details; I like being trusted to "read character" in these fictional people.
Haven't got very far but I'm excited about the journey ahead!
Terry Kay has a lyrical style of prose that feels both poetic and empathetic. It doesn't feel contrived but I frequently get those moments where I think "that's exactly how it is but I didn't have those words." I like that. Plus he sets character in telling words without explaining all the details; I like being trusted to "read character" in these fictional people.
Haven't got very far but I'm excited about the journey ahead!
February 11, 2019
This is the first book by Kay that I’ve read. My copy was signed by the author who is a friend of a friend in Georgia where Terry Kay lives. I got a kick out of why Kay decided to write the book. Bogmeadow’s Wish is a nice, feel good story with poignant comments on relationships.
March 6, 2021
What a fun read!
October 13, 2022
The beauty of Ireland, Leprechauns, Magic, and Love.
An easy, relaxing read.
3&1/2 - 4 stars.
An easy, relaxing read.
3&1/2 - 4 stars.
December 29, 2013
Georgia author Terry Kay’s eleventh novel is a charming story Irish story about love and death and pubs and sacred landscapes and the kind of magic that will draw away your workaday world cares the way the sun draws away the mist from summer fields soon after the break of day.
“At the moment of his death,” Bogmeadow’s Wish begins, “Michael Finn Coghlan’s life slipped quietly out of his body, like the gentle release of a small, cool fish into dark waters.” To read Terry Kay is to become accustomed to such imagery.
In his author’s note, Kay (To Dance with the White Dog, Valley of Light) says that this “light romance” with “the kind of exaggerated spirit one expects of the Irish” is filled with something he’s never written about before: magic.
In terms of storytelling and a craftsman’s love of language, this novel is classic Terry Kay. But the magic is new and it begins with purported struggle back in the old country between Michael Finn Coghlan and a leprechaun named Bogmeadow who—when captured by Coghlan—granted a wish that could be handed down through the generations until it was used.
Coghlan left Ireland years ago for reasons he won’t clarify. Throughout his lifetime, he was known for his stories about his homeland—Ah, let me tell you about Finn McCool and Sally Cavanaugh over a pint at Dugan’s Tavern. . .This brings to mind the tale about Patrick the Believer—yet when given a fine chance to return to Ireland for a visit, he refused, angering his perplexed wife.
Finn never went back to Ireland or used Bogmeadow’s Wish, though speaking of them made fine stories. A Kay's story unfolds, Finn’s grandson Cooper Finn Coghlan of Atlanta is following his grandfather’s wish: taking his ashes back to Ireland. “Let my ashes blow in the wind. You'll know the place when you come to it. I'll be there, telling you.” Jealous that they’re not going with him, Cooper’s close friends map out his itinerary to ensure he sees the sights worth seeing and insist that he call home with frequent reports about every pint, every glorious vista and the ongoing status of the ashes.
Cooper travels, waits to hear his grandfather say “this the place” and meets people along the way who have stories to tell, who wish to do him harm, and who hope to kiss him, and everywhere he goes is seemingly tangled with a magic of sorts as though hidden-away hands are pulling strings and arranging his fate. The spitting image of his grandfather, Cooper loves the old stories and he can tell them well. But since he’s basically a logical man, he’s hard-pressed to account for the prospective magic that’s turning his trip to Ireland into the kind of story old Michael Finn Coghlan would tell from his favorite chair in his favorite pub.
The story sings. You’ll hear the toe-tapping music of flutes and fiddles and the lilt of Irish voices in Kay’s words. He discovered the story waiting for him within his imagination while traveling between Dublin and Waterford and Cork. In Bogmeadow’s Wish, you'll find the towns and the people are just as real as Kay discovered in his own experience. And what’s more, you cannot help but follow young Cooper’s trip through a land where, as his grandfather once said, “nothing happened because it happened” without considering the why of things.
Such notions bring to mind the story of a man named Cooper Finn Coghlan who traveled from Atlanta to Dublin with a box of ashes to scatter and discovered with the help of an expedient teller of tales named Sandy McAfee and beautiful young woman named Kathleen O'Reilly everything he needed to know to put his life back together if he could only resist lapsing back into logic and practicality and running away home.
“At the moment of his death,” Bogmeadow’s Wish begins, “Michael Finn Coghlan’s life slipped quietly out of his body, like the gentle release of a small, cool fish into dark waters.” To read Terry Kay is to become accustomed to such imagery.
In his author’s note, Kay (To Dance with the White Dog, Valley of Light) says that this “light romance” with “the kind of exaggerated spirit one expects of the Irish” is filled with something he’s never written about before: magic.
In terms of storytelling and a craftsman’s love of language, this novel is classic Terry Kay. But the magic is new and it begins with purported struggle back in the old country between Michael Finn Coghlan and a leprechaun named Bogmeadow who—when captured by Coghlan—granted a wish that could be handed down through the generations until it was used.
Coghlan left Ireland years ago for reasons he won’t clarify. Throughout his lifetime, he was known for his stories about his homeland—Ah, let me tell you about Finn McCool and Sally Cavanaugh over a pint at Dugan’s Tavern. . .This brings to mind the tale about Patrick the Believer—yet when given a fine chance to return to Ireland for a visit, he refused, angering his perplexed wife.
Finn never went back to Ireland or used Bogmeadow’s Wish, though speaking of them made fine stories. A Kay's story unfolds, Finn’s grandson Cooper Finn Coghlan of Atlanta is following his grandfather’s wish: taking his ashes back to Ireland. “Let my ashes blow in the wind. You'll know the place when you come to it. I'll be there, telling you.” Jealous that they’re not going with him, Cooper’s close friends map out his itinerary to ensure he sees the sights worth seeing and insist that he call home with frequent reports about every pint, every glorious vista and the ongoing status of the ashes.
Cooper travels, waits to hear his grandfather say “this the place” and meets people along the way who have stories to tell, who wish to do him harm, and who hope to kiss him, and everywhere he goes is seemingly tangled with a magic of sorts as though hidden-away hands are pulling strings and arranging his fate. The spitting image of his grandfather, Cooper loves the old stories and he can tell them well. But since he’s basically a logical man, he’s hard-pressed to account for the prospective magic that’s turning his trip to Ireland into the kind of story old Michael Finn Coghlan would tell from his favorite chair in his favorite pub.
The story sings. You’ll hear the toe-tapping music of flutes and fiddles and the lilt of Irish voices in Kay’s words. He discovered the story waiting for him within his imagination while traveling between Dublin and Waterford and Cork. In Bogmeadow’s Wish, you'll find the towns and the people are just as real as Kay discovered in his own experience. And what’s more, you cannot help but follow young Cooper’s trip through a land where, as his grandfather once said, “nothing happened because it happened” without considering the why of things.
Such notions bring to mind the story of a man named Cooper Finn Coghlan who traveled from Atlanta to Dublin with a box of ashes to scatter and discovered with the help of an expedient teller of tales named Sandy McAfee and beautiful young woman named Kathleen O'Reilly everything he needed to know to put his life back together if he could only resist lapsing back into logic and practicality and running away home.
March 1, 2012
I liked it! But then what's not to like about Ireland, leprachauns, curses, and a love story all sewn up in another Terry Kay novel! Even though it became somewhat predictable about 1/2 way through the book, surprisingly enough, it didn't really diminish the enjoyment of the read. This is the 4th novel I've read by Kay and each one is a delight.
August 6, 2011
I like reading about Ireland and this book is a good tale. It's interesting to see the main character learn more about his grandfather as he travels through Ireland. Of course, he finds answers to his questions in a very interesting manner. I really like the author's description of the character assigned to show the young man around the Irish countryside.
September 16, 2015
After the death of his beloved grandfather, Finn Coghlan, Cooper takes his ashes back to Ireland. There he finds more about his grandfather and why he left the country that he loved and about Bogmeadow's wish that Finn left his grandson, who was so much like himself. A tale of Irish Magic. I have become a fan of Terry Kay.
February 5, 2012
I read it. It was well-written. But. I kept waiting to get swept up and for it to take on a momentum of its own. It never quite did. A lot of what happened to the main character was driven or pre-determined by powerful friends or fixers. It wasn't a very convincing or interesting dynamic.
May 17, 2012
It was a nice, sweet story. A break from heavier,more intense reading that I've been doing. I've always liked Terry Kay; was not as wonderful as some of his others, but I'll always read a Kay for enjoyement.
June 19, 2016
I enjoyed reading Bogmeadows Wish. It's a typical Irish tale. American boy goes to Ireland with his grandfathers ashes. There he meets the girl and had adventures. But it is so well written as all of Terry Kay's books are that it holds your interest from start to finish.
April 26, 2011
sweet story even if predictable. A good choice if you need a break from heavy reading.
December 16, 2011
Light fare, a bit contrived but fun.
August 17, 2011
I enjoyed reading this Irish tale about a grandson who flies to Ireland to discover more about his grandfather's early life, and in the process, he discovers more about himself.
February 15, 2012
Somewhere between liked it and it was okay. I really enjoyed the characters, but the story overall, was just okay. Nothing like Terry Kay's To Dance With the White Dog.
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March 1, 2012Great book! I love his books in the true southern style story telling with the magic of Ireland ! His books paint a picture which I Love!
July 26, 2012
Enjoyable, non-stress read.
February 12, 2013
A lovely story about family and love with a lot of Irish magic.
April 9, 2013
A good writer but not a great story. I was looking for some deeper meaning but a lot of the threads of this story were very shallow.
April 24, 2013
I had just watched a travel show on Ireland and was looking for a book to read that took place in this beautiful country. Perfect choice!
October 18, 2014
A good Irish story, full of love, lilt and magic.
August 20, 2017
What a joyful little book. The coming together of Cooper and the fair Kathleen was a tale made magical by the author's deft touch. If you're not Irish, it will make you wish you were.
February 14, 2016
This was so boring and dumb to me.
April 27, 2011
lots of blarney...
December 13, 2014
I thought this was a clever little book about relationships,family and destiny.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews