Secrets of the
Apple Tree Tavern
a novel by
Mary Ellen Gavin
If you
want a book that will keep you up until four in the morning because you can’t
put it down, this is it. Mary Ellen Gavin has wound the culture and
customs of Irish Americans into one cliffhanger after another.
How can
you not care about Francis Fleming, an adorable, plucky, red haired, child? When he is rescued by a warm hearted, resourceful, Irish cop who doesn’t
mind bending the rules avoid dragging the boy to a draconian orphanage, cheers are in order. And that is
only the beginning.
Next, buckle up for the ride. Frank
takes off on his journey to adulthood with the help of Mae, a member of the tribe who takes him under her wing and poses
as his aunt. She happens to own the Apple Tree Tavern. It’s New York and the bar is a refuge for one and
all as they march through the aftermath of the Great Depression only to plunge into the War to End All
Wars.
There
are so many more events to share – but the risk of being a spoiler is too
great. Discovery is all.
Mary Ellen infuses each of her
characters with a personality that jumps off the page. There are no cardboard figures on her horizon. She gets up close and
personal with each and every one of them. It’s a slice of life with no blinking allowed. If there is a chance there
will be bleeding, she lets them bleed.
Yes!
People die in and around the Apple Tree Tavern and it isn’t pretty. It’s life!
The good, the bad and the ugly are laid bare. At the same time, there is so
much loving and caring involved, the reader isn’t given the opportunity to turn away. When I got to the last
page, I still wanted more.
Gavin
took ten years to research and write this volume. We can only hope she is secretly
working on a sequel and is close to finished.
No comments:
Post a Comment