 Rose of Glenkerry is an
engrossing mystery/romance set in County Wicklow,
Ireland. It’s a fast-moving story that carries
readers from the busy streets of Dublin to a tidy
Wicklow village to a remote lough where the book’s
mystery begins to unfold. The central characters,
young adults just embarking on careers, are
endearing for their courage, vulnerability, and
self-deprecating humour.
Twenty-one-year-old Cary McGurk is about to
graduate from a Dublin university with hopes of
pursuing a career in print journalism. He has
demonstrated talent as a writer, but he is also
his own severest critic, regarding both his career
prospects and his would-be romantic relationships.
In the first
chapter Cary finds his dual anxieties on a
collision course. A few days before graduation,
classmate and friend Siobhan Sullivan, a
hard-driving, career-oriented American, drops a
bombshell. She has just landed the job of her
dreams in London. Why, she asks, doesn’t Cary move
with her and share a flat in London? A two-bedroom
flat, of course–they are, as she says, just
mates–although Cary is secretly of two minds on
that question.
But suddenly all Cary’s plans are thrown into
turmoil. A family crisis takes him back to his
hometown, Glenkerry, in County Wicklow. There he
meets up with an old friend, Rosie O’Malley.
Rosie’s story has always been a sad one–an air of
melancholy seems to drape around her like a
shroud–and now it seems history is repeating
itself. Her mother has disappeared, and Rosie is
desperate to locate her. Cary offers to help,
enlisting another schoolmate, Garda Del Samuels,
to unravel the mystery of the disappearance of
Mary O’Malley.
Throughout the book the characters share bits of
their internal conversations, sometimes touching,
sometimes hilarious. “You’ve set out on the
sea of life,” Cary tells himself after
graduation, “smack into a bloody fog bank.”
As he watches Siobhan depart for London, he
confesses, “Lonely with her, mate, lonely
without her.” And their dialogue is often
good for some hearty laughs as well. At one point
Rosie warns Cary not to get on her wrong side,
reminding him that she is trained in Taekwondo. “I
can throw a mean kick when necessary,” she
tells him. “My advice–whenever I’m around,
protect your crotch, mate.”
Besides the disappearance of her mother, Rosie
harbours another mystery of a more intimate
nature. Back in secondary school, just as their
friendship was evolving into something more
serious, Rosie withdrew without explanation,
leaving Cary disappointed and hurt. Now that
things are heating up between them once again,
Rosie must make a difficult decision. In a night
of no turning back, she tells all. But when Cary
knows her secret, she wonders, will he abandon her
as she once did him?
The older generation of Glenkerry faces its own
trials as well. When Cary’s mother Catherine and
friend Gloria Hennessy enlist the assistance of
Cary, Rosie, and Del in a fight to save their town
from a proposed “Monster Mall,” they confess that
their generation never dared stand up to the
powers that be in the old Ireland. “We allowed
ourselves to be bullied and cowed by those in
authority,” explains Gloria. “We learned a sad
lesson, a lesson I hope and pray Ireland never
forgets. And you and your generation, you give
us hope.”
A riveting story line, enchanting setting, and
unforgettable characters combine to make this a
thoroughly satisfying read for young and old
alike. Rose of Glenkerry–mystery, romance,
and humour, set against the stunning backdrop of
Ireland’s incomparable County Wicklow.
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