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Generations of the Moon
Some creasing to dustwrapper, and dusty fore edge, otherwise a fine copy.
524 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1996
6 people want to read
About the author
John Quinn
132 books10 followersJohn Quinn is a much-loved broadcaster and radio producer who was the recipient of numerous prestigious radio awards during his twenty-five years with RTÉ. He is also an accomplished author and writer of fiction and non-fiction, including 'Letters to Olive', an intimate and inspiring book, written as a tribute to his late wife. A skilful and engaging storyteller, his children’s novel, The Summer of Lily and Esme, was described as an instant classic and won the 1992 Bisto Children Book of the Year. John Quinn lives in Clarinbridge, Co. Galway.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
January 18, 2026
I cannot believe this book has no reviews and, at the time of writing, has under ten ratings!!!
This is a truly brilliant book. It is extremely profound and moving and I found myself tearful in the last third of the book. I wasn't expecting to be so moved by it or to enjoy it so much. I couldn't put it down and read it in just four days. It is simply written, heavy on dialogue and little description, and this keeps it very fast paced and easy to completely immerse yourself in that world. There is no flowery language or prose - it is simple, to the point, and full of real people having conversations as they move through their very tragic and quite sad lives.
As this book apparently also has no description on Goodreads either, I'll provide a brief synopsis. The story focuses primarily on Brian, one of two twins born in 1920s Ireland, just at the beginning of the Irish Free State. It tells the story of Brian's mother and her family, and then him growing up, in an extremely conservative and Catholic environment. Contrasted to this, is the life of his twin sister, Hannah, who at a young age is raised by Protestants - the twins are split up at a very young age between their mother and fathers family who both die young; the mother a staunch Catholic who had married, against all odds and advice , a Protestant man.
The book follows primarily Brian throughout his life as he grows up, and eventually reconciles, to some extent, with his sister Hannah. They both grow up against a truly awful backdrop of religious war, Protestants Vs Catholics, which is especially prominent as they live on the newly established border and Hannah for a time resides in Belfast, which also gets bombarded in the Second World War. It's a very heart rendering and tragic story. Most of the people in this book, irrespective of religion, are good people to the core, with flaws like any other human, and who are proud, arrogant, and make mistakes; but who are also warm, welcoming, funny and endearing. Of course, there are a few shocking characters who are totally awful, and who even in death don't appear to get their just desserts - but this again, makes it so realistic, moving, and not fantasy like or fable at all.
The book covers all sorts of aspects of life in Ireland for average people from the 1920s to the 1970s - religious conflict, real hard poverty, sexual abuse covered up in communities, suicide, abuse in schools and the trauma of being sent away to institutions if you didn't conform, immense emigration to America for an advertised better life. It covers everything and it is extremely immersive. The ending is very profound and I sat for a long time dwelling and thinking. This book will stay with me for a very long time.
The author, John Quinn, recently died, and I think this is one of the only adult books he wrote. I'm flabbergasted that it isn't well known - there's barely anything about it on the internet at all. I cannot recommend it enough.
This is a truly brilliant book. It is extremely profound and moving and I found myself tearful in the last third of the book. I wasn't expecting to be so moved by it or to enjoy it so much. I couldn't put it down and read it in just four days. It is simply written, heavy on dialogue and little description, and this keeps it very fast paced and easy to completely immerse yourself in that world. There is no flowery language or prose - it is simple, to the point, and full of real people having conversations as they move through their very tragic and quite sad lives.
As this book apparently also has no description on Goodreads either, I'll provide a brief synopsis. The story focuses primarily on Brian, one of two twins born in 1920s Ireland, just at the beginning of the Irish Free State. It tells the story of Brian's mother and her family, and then him growing up, in an extremely conservative and Catholic environment. Contrasted to this, is the life of his twin sister, Hannah, who at a young age is raised by Protestants - the twins are split up at a very young age between their mother and fathers family who both die young; the mother a staunch Catholic who had married, against all odds and advice , a Protestant man.
The book follows primarily Brian throughout his life as he grows up, and eventually reconciles, to some extent, with his sister Hannah. They both grow up against a truly awful backdrop of religious war, Protestants Vs Catholics, which is especially prominent as they live on the newly established border and Hannah for a time resides in Belfast, which also gets bombarded in the Second World War. It's a very heart rendering and tragic story. Most of the people in this book, irrespective of religion, are good people to the core, with flaws like any other human, and who are proud, arrogant, and make mistakes; but who are also warm, welcoming, funny and endearing. Of course, there are a few shocking characters who are totally awful, and who even in death don't appear to get their just desserts - but this again, makes it so realistic, moving, and not fantasy like or fable at all.
The book covers all sorts of aspects of life in Ireland for average people from the 1920s to the 1970s - religious conflict, real hard poverty, sexual abuse covered up in communities, suicide, abuse in schools and the trauma of being sent away to institutions if you didn't conform, immense emigration to America for an advertised better life. It covers everything and it is extremely immersive. The ending is very profound and I sat for a long time dwelling and thinking. This book will stay with me for a very long time.
The author, John Quinn, recently died, and I think this is one of the only adult books he wrote. I'm flabbergasted that it isn't well known - there's barely anything about it on the internet at all. I cannot recommend it enough.
Displaying 1 of 1 review