Kevin Maher's debut novel, The Fields, examines the paradox of life in 1980s Ireland--the overarching feeling of either being trapped on the island or thinking it the best place in the world.
The Finnegans--Mam and Dad, five daughters and one son, Jim--are, unlike many of their fellow countrymen, not poverty-stricken. There is enough to eat and drink, decent clothes and a telly. Fourteen-year-old Jim spends his days at school and riding his bike with his geeky friend Gary. They catch the eye of Mozzo and his posse, and trouble follows. Jim wants to spend time with the charismatic Mozzo but his Mam forbids it. Mozzo's girlfriend is Saidhbh (pronounced Sive) Donohue. Of course, Jim falls in love with her.
So far, it's an average coming-of-age tale, filled with Irish vernacular, good humor, singing and boys-will-be-boys shenanigans. Enter Father O'Culigeen. He is a slavering sex fiend who can't keep his hands off boys, forcing them to commit heinous acts while telling them that they are causing him to sin. He sets his sights on Jim and, telling his Mam that Jim needs to be an altar boy to sort him out, has his way with him before every Mass and whenever else possible. Jim goes from being a happy-go-lucky innocent to a withdrawn and confused adolescent.
O'Culigeen knows that Mozzo is leading Jim astray, so he arranges a job for Mozzo's mother, neatly moving him out of town and out of the way. What he doesn't foresee is that Saidhgh and Jim become more than casual friends, which is hard for anyone to credit since Saidhbh is a regal 18-year-old beauty and Jim still wears Spider-Man pajamas.
Saidhbh gets pregnant, and Jim has to figure out a way for her to have an abortion, which is illegal in Ireland. They decamp for London and stay with Jim's Aunty Grace, who has slightly misrepresented the grandeur of her living situation--but welcomes them anyway.
In an irresistible, lyrical and beautifully written combination of poignancy, deep sadness and great good humor, Kevin Maher explores and explains an Ireland firmly in the grip of the Catholic Church and still feeling the effects of the "Troubles" as well as a young man's leap into adulthood--all done with heart and an unerring sense of the struggles therein. --Valerie Ryan
Shelf Talker: A wondrous debut novel set in Ireland in the 1980s.