Béal na Péiste

by Fionntán de Brún

Nuair a thuirlingíonn eitilt Réamainn Prút i mBéal Feirste in 1988, tá sé ag filleadh ar a bhaile dúchais ina strainséir. Cuireann sé sonrú sna fógraí móra a fheiceann sé d’uimhir fóin rúnda na bpéas, seirbhís lena dtig sceitheadh ar lucht sceimhlitheoireachta agus ualach a bhaint de do choinsias. Ach tá Réamann ag cuimhneamh ar a óige agus ar an deilín a bhíodh ag na seanmóirithe sráide tráth:
Come listen to my tale of Jonah and the whale
Way down in the middle of the ocean!
Cuimhníonn sé fosta ar oíche chinniúnach i mí na Nollag 1942. An oíche ar léim sé amach as eitleán Gearmánach ar chósta Chontae an Dúin go ndearna sa bhealach go dtí teach a thuismitheoirí tríd an dorchadas. Cad é a bhí ar siúl aige sa Ghearmáin…?
Nuair a caitheadh Réamann as béal na péiste sin in 1942, bhí aige le cosán cam a shiúl feasta ina gceisteofaí cuimhne agus dílseacht, ceart agus ciontacht – bealach aimhréidh idir Éire agus an Eoraip, ionsar bháire na fola in 1988.

Genres: Historical Fiction

340 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2023

About the author

Fionntán de Brún was born and bred in Belfast, where he still lives with his wife Jacaí and their three children, Dónal, Lochlann and Eoghan. He graduated from Queen’s University in 1992, taking a degree in Celtic Languages and French and subsequently taught in the Irish Department of St. Mary’s University College of Education between 1998 and 2006. In 2006 he took up a position as lecturer in the Centre for Irish and Celtic Studies at the University of Ulster, Coleraine. His much lauded critical work on the writings of Seosamh Mac Grianna, Seosamh Mac Grianna: An Mhéin Rúin was published by An Clóchomhar in 2002.

Fionntán’s academic articles and short stories have been published to considerable acclaim and his collection Litir ó mo Mháthair Altrama agus scéalta eile (MÓINÍN, 2005) was winner of the Bord na Leabhar Gaeilge Award at Oireachtas 2004. A number of the stories in that collection had previously garnered a variety of awards and recognition. Fionntán was editor of the collection of essays Belfast and the Irish Language, published by Four Courts Press in 2006 and he is currently commissioned by MÓINÍN to write a novel.

Reviews

[Máirtín Antaine Mag Uidhir · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scríofa go hiontach agus go healaíonta. Preabann an scéal idir tréimhsí agus taithí an phríomhcharachtair gan finscéalaíocht dhochreidte a dhéanamh den téad casta sin. Tá luas maith sa scéal a thug orm é a léamh go santach.