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The Ghost Estate
Gerard McQuaid has been waiting for his start in life: his house, his girl, his land. And with rural Ireland being swept up by the Celtic Tiger and villages becoming towns, the electrician's moment has finally arrived.
With the chance to run a big job, McQuaid finds himself on Birchview Manor, a decrepit estate where the dreams of modern Ireland crash up against the weight of history. As McQuaid gets further into the restoration, he falls deeper into the story of the estate's previous owner, Lord Henry Lefoyle, whose fate begins to loom ghost-like over McQuaid's own.
In this electrifying debut from a bold new Irish voice, John Connell deftly treads the footsteps of one ordinary man's rise and fall through the boom and bust of contemporary Ireland, weaving past and present together in a beautiful and devastating journey.
With the chance to run a big job, McQuaid finds himself on Birchview Manor, a decrepit estate where the dreams of modern Ireland crash up against the weight of history. As McQuaid gets further into the restoration, he falls deeper into the story of the estate's previous owner, Lord Henry Lefoyle, whose fate begins to loom ghost-like over McQuaid's own.
In this electrifying debut from a bold new Irish voice, John Connell deftly treads the footsteps of one ordinary man's rise and fall through the boom and bust of contemporary Ireland, weaving past and present together in a beautiful and devastating journey.
384 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2015
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About the author
John Connell
1 book5 followersJohn Connell was born in 1986. He grew up in County Longford, Republic of Ireland.He lives and farms on his family farm. The Cow Book is his number 1 bestselling memoir.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 24, 2025
I tried hard to like it, but it was disappointing. The protagonist is largely unlikeable, and a lot of the political content went right over my head, along with many itinerant characters whose personalities were barely touched upon.
May 6, 2015
The title snagged my interest. The book art did not.
I pushed through to the end of this story. I found the dual story line irritating and distracting. It wasn't handled well.
The style of writing left me detached. Perhaps that was the writer's intent so that readers could better consider the themes in this work. While I did do that, I found this read dissatisfying.
I pushed through to the end of this story. I found the dual story line irritating and distracting. It wasn't handled well.
The style of writing left me detached. Perhaps that was the writer's intent so that readers could better consider the themes in this work. While I did do that, I found this read dissatisfying.
May 30, 2015
Disappointing.
September 5, 2018
I loved this book. I think it’s incredibly well written. I have read it three times. The characters are well drawn and the story is very engaging. I loved the credit monsters dancing at crossroads bit. The depictions of the work sites are very realistic. As for the monologue about fuck the bull in the field, Bob Geldof, the Dubliners, Kathleen Ni Houlahain who never got the ride, Christy Brown the cripple, and Day Lewis too was a classic. He wanted to be one of them. He wanted to be able to take her to Brandywell on a Sunday night. When Connell spoke about maiming ourselves, it rang so very true.
A devastating ending for Gerard, but I never expected anything else.
God forbid that the latest Celtic Tiger should end in such a shambles that the last one did!
A devastating ending for Gerard, but I never expected anything else.
God forbid that the latest Celtic Tiger should end in such a shambles that the last one did!
May 21, 2019
Gerard McQuaid has been waiting for his start in life: his house, his girl, his land. And with rural Ireland being swept up by the Celtic Tiger and villages becoming towns, the electrician's moment has finally arrived.
With the chance to run a big job, McQuaid finds himself on Birchview Manor, a decrepit estate where the dreams of modern Ireland crash up against the weight of history. As McQuaid gets further into the restoration, he falls deeper into the story of the estate's previous owner, Lord Henry Lefoyle, whose fate begins to loom ghost-like over McQuaid's own.
This is a debut novel from John Connell, but it just didn't enthrall me as much as I thought it would. I have read many a story regarding Ireland's history & it's beauty, but this one didn't quite grab me.
With the chance to run a big job, McQuaid finds himself on Birchview Manor, a decrepit estate where the dreams of modern Ireland crash up against the weight of history. As McQuaid gets further into the restoration, he falls deeper into the story of the estate's previous owner, Lord Henry Lefoyle, whose fate begins to loom ghost-like over McQuaid's own.
This is a debut novel from John Connell, but it just didn't enthrall me as much as I thought it would. I have read many a story regarding Ireland's history & it's beauty, but this one didn't quite grab me.
June 11, 2015
I wanted to like this book more and for about half I did enjoy the story. It has some good ideas - an interesting character in the middle of the Irish boom years (Celtic Tiger time) when the dollar (or euro?) was God.
I was unsure about the attempt to integrate another story from the 19th century, using a somewhat clumsy 'discovered portrait' of an earlier character.
There was some good patches of writing. The chapter showcasing the attempt to sell new houses to a cashed-up and unsuspecting public was funny and tough.
But the story felt like it deteriorated. I was less and less convinced of the developing behavior of Gerard McQuaid. He became a quite unbelievable character the the story became patchy and hard to believe.
In late chapters as he began to deteriorate, so I thought did the plot. When in one chapter 'tears fell on his dirty boots' and he could only cry 'come back to me to his girl friend, I thought it developed into farce.
This feels like a set of undeveloped characters with a good idea that is alos undeveloped. Perhaps the story needed to mature for longer.
I was unsure about the attempt to integrate another story from the 19th century, using a somewhat clumsy 'discovered portrait' of an earlier character.
There was some good patches of writing. The chapter showcasing the attempt to sell new houses to a cashed-up and unsuspecting public was funny and tough.
But the story felt like it deteriorated. I was less and less convinced of the developing behavior of Gerard McQuaid. He became a quite unbelievable character the the story became patchy and hard to believe.
In late chapters as he began to deteriorate, so I thought did the plot. When in one chapter 'tears fell on his dirty boots' and he could only cry 'come back to me to his girl friend, I thought it developed into farce.
This feels like a set of undeveloped characters with a good idea that is alos undeveloped. Perhaps the story needed to mature for longer.
December 22, 2015
The premise of Ireland at the peak of the development boom just before the crash was promising, but the book didn't make the most of this. I enjoyed reading about the realities of being a tradie on a big development, the pressures on small business owners and selling properties, but I wasn't interested enough in the characters to care what happened to them (just as well as it turned out). The main builder character was a bit inconsistent and his girlfriend was wimpy - half committed to each other, but not really. I found it very bleak, but maybe that's the reality when a boom comes to an end. Might have been better to stick to the modern era, not try to integrate the past and present.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews