Girl on the Leeside
A Novel
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4.5 • 2 Ratings
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
A young, aspiring poet in a quiet Irish village thinks her life of books suits her perfectly until a charismatic newcomer from America broadens her horizons.
Siobhan Doyle grew up with her Uncle Kee at their family pub, the Leeside, in rural Ireland. Kee has been staunchly overprotective of Siobhan ever since her mother's death in an IRA bombing, but now that she's an adult, it's clear that in protecting her, Kee has unwittingly kept her in a state of arrested development. The pair are content to remain forever in their quiet haven, reading and discussing Irish poetry, but for both Siobhan and Kee, fate intervenes.
A visiting American literary scholar awakens Siobhan to the possibility of a fulfilling life away from The Leeside. And her relationship with Kee falters after the revelation that her father is still alive. In the face of these changes, Siobhan reaches a surprising decision about her future. Lyrical and heartfelt, Kathleen Anne Kenney's Girl on the Leeside deserves a place alongside contemporary literature's best-loved coming-of-age novels.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Playwright Kenney delves into Irish poetry and literature in her debut novel about a bartender who suddenly finds her isolated life opened up with the arrival of an unexpected guest at her quiet pub. Siobhan Doyle has lived with her Uncle Kee since the unexpected death of her mother 25 years earlier. She enjoys the quiet, picturesque life she and Kee have crafted at the Leeside, a centuries-old family pub they run together in a rural Irish town. But their routine is turned upside down when Professor Tim Ferris, an American who studies Irish literature and poetry, arrives for a few days stay. As she and Tim begin to bond, Siobhan considers the possibility of life beyond the Leeside especially after it is revealed that her uncle lied about her father's fate. Though rooted interestingly in a bond over literature, the novel lacks depth at times. Despite Siobhan being nearly 30 years old, she is characterized like a stereotypically Irish manic pixie dream girl: childish, ethereal, and lacking in realism. Alternately rushed and weighed down by wooden dialogue, Kenney's novel sidesteps the most compelling parts of its own plot (including an IRA bombing) and themes (the place of literature in social identity) in favor of heavy-handed tropes.
