Salvage

by Richard Kearney

It's 1939 and young Maeve O'Sullivan and her family are among the last inhabitants of a windswept island off the south coast of Ireland. After her father's death, Maeve finds herself the last inheritor of the old ways of healing. But the future beckons to Maeve with the arrival of Seamus, a handsome young medical student heading for Dublin. Maeve suddenly finds herself at a crossroads, torn between the pull of the past and the lure of the modern. Must she sacrifice one in order to accommodate the other?
St Brigid, patroness of poetry, craft and midwifery, hovers over this richly evocative story about the tension between progress and tradition. Timely and timeless, Kearney's novel offers sensual homage to a singular landscape brimming with a Gaelic wisdom about the natural world.

Genres: Fiction

296 pages, Paperback

Published May 3, 2023

About the author

Richard Kearney is the Charles Seelig professor of philosophy at Boston College and has taught at many universities including University College Dublin, the Sorbonne, and the University of Nice.

He studied at Glenstal Abbey under the Benedictines until 1972, and was a 1st Class Honours graduate in Philosophy in the Bachelor of Arts graduate class of 1975 in UCD. He completed an M.A. at McGill University with Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor, and a PhD with Paul Ricœur at University of Paris X: Nanterre. He corresponded with Jean-Paul Sartre, Jacques Derrida and other French philosophers of the era. He was also active in the Irish, British, and French media as a host for various television and radio programs on literary and philosophical themes. His work focuses on the philosophy of the narrative imagination, hermeneutics and phenomenology.

Reviews

[Sondra · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of the richest novels I have read in some time. I was very soon sucked into the story, simultaneously wanting to finish reading to see what happens to Maeve and wanting the novel to extend indefinitely so I could linger awhile longer in her world.

In addition to believable, complex characters, the landscapes, smells, and sights seemed to leap off the page. Everything felt tactile and immediate, and so many lines were poetic enough that I wrote them down to savor later, like "pure blue, not a crease in the sky," and "sunlight torn to ribbons by the waves" (I also underlined many thought-provoking lines).

The philosophical themes were woven seamlessly into the character's lives, like the reality of "Brigid" not as a person, but as a force that accompanies healings. And insofar as the characters mention God, the divine is seen as no abstract entity, but the sacred ground beneath our feet, felt in everything we can touch, taste, smell, and love.

I'm not sure if this is in the cards, but I would LOVE to read a sequel. I want to see more of Maeve, specifically how she could incorporate her traditional healings into her future as a nurse. In the meantime, Maeve and her island will remain in my heart for a long time, and I will continue to come back to this book to be re-immersed in her world.

[Roy McCarthy · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an excellent piece of writing which combines unusual location, tension between the old ways and the new, and a love story. Covering the years of the 'Emergency' it follows the coming-of-age of Maeve, devoted to her father and his adherence to the old Irish saint Brigid and the healing properties of nature. The modern ways are tempting the offshore islanders to the towns and cities of Ireland. Maeve, her family gone, is no exception but finds life on the mainland hard to adapt to. The author makes use of the Irish language, dropping in phrases throughout. Even if one doesn't understand them they lend depth and mysticism to the text. One cannot help but be drawn towards the stubborn but kind-hearted Maeve and I gasped aloud when the author dropped his bombshell sentence towards the end. Gentle and evocative, I loved this too-short book. Maybe the author will allow us to catch up with Maeve, Helen and Seamus some time? I hope so.

[Joanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maeve O'Sullivan, one of the last remaining families on an Irish island, learns to integrate the old ways of Brigid and the world as it is in 1939. Kearney examines the power of nature and the ways we heal, and how we can carry that into our lives in the present time. The story line was formulaic and the characters flat, but the descriptions of the island and the sea were beautiful. I would have liked to have read more about Celtic beliefs and healing.