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Kilpara
Only the heart knows where home truly is. Ellis O’Donovan was an American through and through. He had no intention of going to his ancestral home in Ireland. After all, his parents were chased out by the English. But his mother insists on being taken back to die at her old estate, Kilpara. Ellis reluctantly agrees, expecting a quick round trip. Kilpara and its residents have other plans. The strife Ellis finds between his desire to return to his life in America, and to aid his kin in Ireland reaches a dangerous pinnacle when he meets Morrigan, the daughter of the very English overlord who has taken his birthright. About the Patricia Hopper is the author of several award-winning articles and short fiction pieces. She is a native of Ireland, now making her home in West Virginia. This is her debut novel.
350 pages, Paperback
First published May 4, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
July 12, 2015
KILPARA takes the reader on a captivating journey after the Civil War from Maryland to Galway, Ireland. Ellis O'Donovan, a handsome and intelligent young man with a roving eye for beautiful women, grants his mother her dying wish to return her to her ancestral home, Kilpara, in Ireland where she wants to be buried after her death. Ellis discovers his homeland in the process and falls in love with it. This story is told with historical accuracy, and readers will feel as if they are there at the O'Donovan's country estate of Stonebridge in Maryland as well as Kilpara in Ireland. Two beautiful thoroughbred horses, Brazenhead and Pandora, add to the excitement and play a key role in the story. I lived in Williamsport and Hagerstown for a few years as a child, and my father went to law school in Baltimore, so I was caught up in the landscape almost immediately. Then when Ellis takes his mother on to Galway, I identified once again since my grandfather was born in Galway, and I've traveled there. Be prepared to journey back in time. You'll be yearning for more!
July 14, 2015
Finally! A novel in which the family is NOT dysfunctional! Patricia Hopper has written a heartwarming story about a family that understands and accepts duties and obligations. In Kilpara, when the dying matriarch decides that she wants to return to Ireland to be buried on the family’s old estate, her youngest son, Ellis O’Donovan sets aside his qualms and accompanies her. Once in Ireland, however, honoring his mother’s wishes becomes more difficult with each passing day and his chances of a quick return to America become less and less until he meets the love of his life and they become nil. A riveting and satisfying read from beginning to end!
February 6, 2021
Even though Kilpara is a story about a son’s promise to take his dying mother home to Ireland where she can be buried on the family’s old home spot, this book is not a depressing read. The flavorful casts of characters and vibrant settings have an uplifting effect. The author’s Irish roots really show when she describes the people and places within the story. I recommend this book to anyone who likes historical fiction. The author gives readers some Irish history and takes them on a journey that only a native of Ireland could. I hope there are more books to come from this author.
January 6, 2016
I liked all of the historical details in this book. I liked that the action was split between 1860's American and Ireland. The story proceeds along at a nice pace and the main character is quite likable and feels realistic. Although the story gets a bit predictable towards the end, it's still a fun journey to get there.
I received this book as a Goodreads First-Read. Yay!
I received this book as a Goodreads First-Read. Yay!
September 20, 2018
The best thing about this book is the way it is promoted here on Goodreads. I should have been suspicious as soon as I saw that it had only 21 ratings, but the blurb made it sound so much like something I would enjoy that I waved away any reservations. Unfortunately, it didn’t take long to realize that this book is self-published. And let’s face, there is reason that books go through publishers. It’s called quality control.
I am no editor. I’m just a book lover who taught English for awhile. But, if I had the chance read Patricia Hopper’s manuscript, here is what I would have told her.
-Cut the extraneous characters and plot lines. They distract from the plot; in fact, they make it hard to determine what the primary plot is. Is this a family story about the pain of losing a parent? Is it a cultural story about the Irish emigrant experience? Or is a romance? As it is, that is muddled.
-Related to this, reconsider the percentage of the book that occurs in America. The characters don’t even leave the country until page 152 (out of 343), and we don’t see Kilpara until page 211. Most of the characters and development prior to this could be eliminated or reduced (Maureen’s storyline? Chuck it! Ulrich? Ulrich who? Even Emmons could be a brief mention!). Then there could be much more time spent developing more important elements during the time in Ireland,
-And there are similar problems with the ending. Don’t stretch out the denouement. And definitely don’t introduce new stuff (i.e. Maureen’s special needs baby? What?).
-The first person point of view does not serve this story well and leads to other problems. First, it requires all exposition to be provided either from the narrator’s perspective or through passages of dialogue, which means there are problems with the narrator’s voice as well as really awkward, stilted conversations between the characters. Also, it limits our understanding of Ellis to just his actions and his own commentary on them.
-In general, Ellis could be developed to be a more three dimensional character. As it is, it is hard to identify with him and root for him because both his character and his motives are cloudy. Because of his involvement with Astelle and Lilah and his interest in Trista, he comes off as a womanizer who is simply attracted to Morrigan’s physical beauty, and since there is very limited development of her either, their relationship seems insubstantial.
-Lastly, editors are valuable because they catch the grammar mistakes. I nearly gave up on this book when I read the following sentence: “I arose before dawn and went to the kitchen in hope of finding early morning staff from who I could pry some coffee.” FROM WHO! This was followed by numerous other errors, including more pronoun misuse, misplaced modifiers, a few misspellings, redundancies (like “already preceded”), and word misuse (like adversity instead of aversion).
I could go on, but this is probably enough. I would have stopped reading, but I don’t permit myself to rate books that I haven’t finished so I pressed on to ensure that others don’t pick this up expecting a great historical romance like I did.
I am no editor. I’m just a book lover who taught English for awhile. But, if I had the chance read Patricia Hopper’s manuscript, here is what I would have told her.
-Cut the extraneous characters and plot lines. They distract from the plot; in fact, they make it hard to determine what the primary plot is. Is this a family story about the pain of losing a parent? Is it a cultural story about the Irish emigrant experience? Or is a romance? As it is, that is muddled.
-Related to this, reconsider the percentage of the book that occurs in America. The characters don’t even leave the country until page 152 (out of 343), and we don’t see Kilpara until page 211. Most of the characters and development prior to this could be eliminated or reduced (Maureen’s storyline? Chuck it! Ulrich? Ulrich who? Even Emmons could be a brief mention!). Then there could be much more time spent developing more important elements during the time in Ireland,
-And there are similar problems with the ending. Don’t stretch out the denouement. And definitely don’t introduce new stuff (i.e. Maureen’s special needs baby? What?).
-The first person point of view does not serve this story well and leads to other problems. First, it requires all exposition to be provided either from the narrator’s perspective or through passages of dialogue, which means there are problems with the narrator’s voice as well as really awkward, stilted conversations between the characters. Also, it limits our understanding of Ellis to just his actions and his own commentary on them.
-In general, Ellis could be developed to be a more three dimensional character. As it is, it is hard to identify with him and root for him because both his character and his motives are cloudy. Because of his involvement with Astelle and Lilah and his interest in Trista, he comes off as a womanizer who is simply attracted to Morrigan’s physical beauty, and since there is very limited development of her either, their relationship seems insubstantial.
-Lastly, editors are valuable because they catch the grammar mistakes. I nearly gave up on this book when I read the following sentence: “I arose before dawn and went to the kitchen in hope of finding early morning staff from who I could pry some coffee.” FROM WHO! This was followed by numerous other errors, including more pronoun misuse, misplaced modifiers, a few misspellings, redundancies (like “already preceded”), and word misuse (like adversity instead of aversion).
I could go on, but this is probably enough. I would have stopped reading, but I don’t permit myself to rate books that I haven’t finished so I pressed on to ensure that others don’t pick this up expecting a great historical romance like I did.
November 22, 2018
The overarching message of this book is not the historical elements but the needs of the human spirit. This is more of a psychological fiction than a historical fiction, yet it is not without its historical elements. Rather, the historical elements are served up gently with lovable characters. The societal class systems are presented matter-of-factly, as our the realities of the American civil war. The romantic components of the story are predictable yet enjoyable. An overall easy read on a cold and cloudy day.
May 23, 2018
This is a wonderful debut novel. It was easy to read. Somewhat predictable though, at the point where Ellis realizes the Morrigan is the daughter of the man who sent Ellis' parents into exile in America. I loved the storyline though - as I myself am drawn to return to Germany where my parents were born and raised. A familiar tender feeling.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 28, 2017
I absolutely loved this book. The writing is wonderful. It was a very interesting story. I loved the descriptions of Ireland. Can't wait to pick up her next book.
January 2, 2021
Good easy read. Looking forward to reading the rest.
March 18, 2015
From Midwest Book Reviews (Diane Donovan, reviewer):
Ellis O'Donovan has bad feelings about his ancestral home, Ireland, because his parents were forced to flee the English to their new home in America. Aside from his name, he has no intention of returning to the "old country" - but when his mother insists on returning to Kilpara, her old estate home in Ireland, to die, Ellis has no choice but to help her achieve her last wish.
That doesn't mean he has to sojourn to Ireland and enjoy it, or even stay: far from it. Ellis intends to stay only as long as his mother's needs require it. At this point readers can only suspect romance will enter the picture and cause a delay; but there's actually much more in the form of unexpectedly strong family ties and a willful daughter of the enemy.
Narrated in the first person, Kilpara assumes an immediacy that incorporates the sights, smells, and feel of the mid-1800s both in America and in Ireland; and this is one of its many notable attributes: "The horses galloped harder, necks straining, nostrils steaming, and hooves grinding against rain-soaked surfaces. I leaned away from the window to avoid loose muck hurled against the carriage sides. We entered the long avenue, careening around the final bend that brought us face-to-face with Stonebridge House, its stone turrets rising up to rival springtime mountains in the background."
Nothing says "you are there" more than using the first personal to capture experience, and seeing countryside and events through the eyes of a passionate protagonist who has spent too much of his life rejecting his family, and who now find himself in the thick of it.
Nothing says "unexpected" more than a reluctant journey that winds up reinforcing not just a sense of heritage, but family ties that have long been avoided.
Nothing says "intimacy" more than shared family experiences that expose long-held secrets and inject much-needed understanding into the mix of angst and pain that permeate one family's world: "Aunt Sadie muffled her hands inside the wide berth of her habit-sleeves and looked at me for a long moment. "I don't know how much you know, Ellis. I will share with you that Ann has hidden her childhood fears deep inside her where they can't hurt. Some memories were just too painful to bear."
And nothing says "captivating" more than taking all these disparate ends and weaving them gently into the protagonist's own psyche and concerns so that Kilpara's draw becomes a pull not just on the narrator, but the reader as well.
Kilpara is a 'historical novel' only in the sense of its setting and times: the rest is a personal journey. Yes, it holds romance (no spoilers here; the suspicion was aroused early on before the steps of Kilpara were even reached). Yes, it holds unexpected changes, new relationships, beginnings and endings.
But it also holds the promise of atmosphere (something many modern novels seem to omit in the haste for action) and within this atmosphere, readers will discover the real strength of Kilpara: its ability to delight the reader with the tastes and texture of another time: "All I could think about were those many years at Stonebridge when Thanksgiving meals were filled with laughter and by stories told around the table and music played long into the night. Mother and Father would share a nostalgic gaze for their disavowed homeland, mixed with contentment and gratitude for their other blessings in life. Murmurings of holly, plum pudding, and cooked goose stirred thoughts of Christmas throughout Kilpara cutting through the barrier that kept us numb."
Herein lies its real strength, making it a recommended pick not for 'romance readers' or 'historical novel' enthusiasts, but for those who usually eschew either genre for its lack of "you are there" intimacy, presented in abundance in Kilpara.
Ellis O'Donovan has bad feelings about his ancestral home, Ireland, because his parents were forced to flee the English to their new home in America. Aside from his name, he has no intention of returning to the "old country" - but when his mother insists on returning to Kilpara, her old estate home in Ireland, to die, Ellis has no choice but to help her achieve her last wish.
That doesn't mean he has to sojourn to Ireland and enjoy it, or even stay: far from it. Ellis intends to stay only as long as his mother's needs require it. At this point readers can only suspect romance will enter the picture and cause a delay; but there's actually much more in the form of unexpectedly strong family ties and a willful daughter of the enemy.
Narrated in the first person, Kilpara assumes an immediacy that incorporates the sights, smells, and feel of the mid-1800s both in America and in Ireland; and this is one of its many notable attributes: "The horses galloped harder, necks straining, nostrils steaming, and hooves grinding against rain-soaked surfaces. I leaned away from the window to avoid loose muck hurled against the carriage sides. We entered the long avenue, careening around the final bend that brought us face-to-face with Stonebridge House, its stone turrets rising up to rival springtime mountains in the background."
Nothing says "you are there" more than using the first personal to capture experience, and seeing countryside and events through the eyes of a passionate protagonist who has spent too much of his life rejecting his family, and who now find himself in the thick of it.
Nothing says "unexpected" more than a reluctant journey that winds up reinforcing not just a sense of heritage, but family ties that have long been avoided.
Nothing says "intimacy" more than shared family experiences that expose long-held secrets and inject much-needed understanding into the mix of angst and pain that permeate one family's world: "Aunt Sadie muffled her hands inside the wide berth of her habit-sleeves and looked at me for a long moment. "I don't know how much you know, Ellis. I will share with you that Ann has hidden her childhood fears deep inside her where they can't hurt. Some memories were just too painful to bear."
And nothing says "captivating" more than taking all these disparate ends and weaving them gently into the protagonist's own psyche and concerns so that Kilpara's draw becomes a pull not just on the narrator, but the reader as well.
Kilpara is a 'historical novel' only in the sense of its setting and times: the rest is a personal journey. Yes, it holds romance (no spoilers here; the suspicion was aroused early on before the steps of Kilpara were even reached). Yes, it holds unexpected changes, new relationships, beginnings and endings.
But it also holds the promise of atmosphere (something many modern novels seem to omit in the haste for action) and within this atmosphere, readers will discover the real strength of Kilpara: its ability to delight the reader with the tastes and texture of another time: "All I could think about were those many years at Stonebridge when Thanksgiving meals were filled with laughter and by stories told around the table and music played long into the night. Mother and Father would share a nostalgic gaze for their disavowed homeland, mixed with contentment and gratitude for their other blessings in life. Murmurings of holly, plum pudding, and cooked goose stirred thoughts of Christmas throughout Kilpara cutting through the barrier that kept us numb."
Herein lies its real strength, making it a recommended pick not for 'romance readers' or 'historical novel' enthusiasts, but for those who usually eschew either genre for its lack of "you are there" intimacy, presented in abundance in Kilpara.
May 5, 2015
Best Author and great book! A must read for all!
December 21, 2016
Loved the Maryland connection since it is my home. Lots of Irish immigrants settled here.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews