Honey Seems Bitter

by Benedict Kiely

Kiely, Benedict. Honey Seems Bitter. London, Methuen and Co Ltd., 1954. 13 cm x 19 cm. 194 pages. Original hardcover with original dustjacket in protective Mylar. Good condition with minor signs of external wear. Inscribed / Signed by Benedict Kiely on the titlepage. This novel, first published almost sixty years ago, tells the story of Donagh Hartigan, a young man recovering from a nervous breakdown and living in a village on the outskirts of Dublin City. One moming by accident he makes friends with the handsome, popular George Butler. On the same moming the two men find the murdered body of Lily Morgan, a girl Donagh had known and liked when they had both been patients in a convalescent home. Her mysterious death casts an air of tension over the village. An army deserter, who once spent a night in Hartigan?s hut is tried for her murder. Hartigan and Butler are both in love with Emily Rayel, who is informally engaged to Butler. Yet there is something about the big handsome man that frightens her and, seeking an outlet for her emotions, she turns to the gentle Donagh.(Benedict Kiely website)

Unknown Binding

Reviews

[Mgb · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book takes place in a small village in Ireland in the 1950s. At the start, it was unclear what kind of book this would be...a book about mental illness? a mystery? a romance(from a man’s point of view)? This book does not fall into simple genres. When published, I think it was banned in Ireland for sexual content(tame by today’s standards). Throughout, the words I heard in my head were in a gentle Irish brogue. The author has a lovely way with words. I kept reading to the end glad to have discovered this author.