Castle Gillian

by Maurice Walsh

Genres: Historical Fiction

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1948

About the author

Maurice Walsh was an Irish novelist best known for the short story The Quiet Man which was later made into an Oscar-winning movie directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara. Walsh was born in 1879 in Ballydonoghue near Listowel, Co. Kerry, Ireland. He was one of Ireland's best-selling authors in the 1930s.

Reviews

[Kate Forsyth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read Castle Gillian by Maurice Walsh as a teenager, and was enchanted. It’s a romance set in Ireland in the 1930s, and tells the story of a young man, broken by the war, and his family’s struggle to keep the ancestral home. Whenever I go into an old, cobwebby second-hand bookstore, I look to see if they have any of his books and over the years I’ve amassed half-a-dozen of them. Fighting off a nasty bout of bronchitis over the summer holidays, I stayed in bed and read my way through the whole lot of them again. Nearly all follow the same plot sequence as Castle Gillian (which is still my favourite) – a small quiet man comes to the glen, usually to visit a friend; there’s a beautiful girl (sometimes there are two, giving the friend a romance too); he has to outface a big tough cocksure man; at the end of the book, they fight; the small, quiet man wins against all odds and gets the girl. Sometimes there’s a murder involved as well. Most of them are set in Scotland and celebrate the wild and beautiful landscape (Castle Gillian is the exception, being set in Ireland); all of them are whimsical and a little wry.

Maurice Walsh was Irish himself (born in County Kerry in 1879), but spent a lot of time in Scotland and married his wife there in 1908. He is best known for the short story ‘The Quiet Man’ which was made into an Oscar-winning film directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara. He was one of Ireland’s best-selling authors in the 1930s, but no-one I know has heard of him. It’s a shame, I think. The best of his books (Castle Gillian, Trouble in the Glen, Danger Under the Moon & The Small, Dark Man are all well worth reading.

[Lora · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, this book brought out the influence of the reader on the page. That means, at times, I was thoroughly engaged because I was reading for pleasure, or I was scanning quickly because I was bored or agitated or impatient.
So the reader was at least as uneven as the writing.
The book did seem to have a very thin and loose boned plot that seemed it might fall down any minute. But somehow, it picked itself up and I fell in line with it. And, not to add too much of a spoiler, I love a good courtroom drama!
I almost quit several times, thinking, this was one of the author's weaker books. Maybe in some ways it is. But I was so glad to finish and to have enjoyed it more along the way. The ending was predictable but also satisfying. And a good ending always earns a star from this reader.
I'm keeping this book for future reading.

[Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

Typical Walsh, and as such a gentle immersion into an imaginary Ireland of the 1940s where impoverished aristocrats raise horses, it only rains at night, there are no midges, travellers (gypsies) are welcomed by landowners, and the rivers are full of fish. Obviously total fiction and very dated but then so are many dreams.

[Ru Viljoen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Castle Gillian is beautifully written. In my opinion the only romantic novels that can compete with this are one of Maurice Walsh's other great novels like the key above the door, a small dark man or the spanish lady.

You are drawn into his lovely little Irish settings until you feel like you can see it yourself, the actions make you fall in love with the protagonists, the conversations are so subtle and filled with meaning that you doubt yourself, and when the book finishes you experience a nostalgia that can only be overcome by plunging into the next maurice walsh.

Castle Gillian is a blissful and mellow tribute to a wonderful time and place in the world. If you like romantic novels, you will not find better.