Land

Land ~ Maggie O’Farrell

When Tomás and his son, Liam, come across a hidden spring in a small copse in western Ireland, Tomás decides that he will no longer work for the Redcoats, and instead the maps he creates will be real and true, though this will mean the loss of the only income the family has.

Tomás is a cartographer in mid 19^th century Ireland, and has survived the Great Hunger that killed so many, and sent others to the New World in search of a better life.  He is a quiet, sometimes hard man, though his childhood in a Dickensian workhouse softens the reader up a bit to him.

Land is not solely Tomás’s story.  Liam resists his father’s efforts to draw him into cartography, instead dreaming of the priesthood.  Seraphina, Tomás’s wife and fellow workhouse survivor, is the heart of the family. Practical and determined to secure some financial stability, she insists on such “outrageous” necessities as a roof and floor before moving into the dilapidated house Tomás rents.  Daughter Enda is a musician who resents that she cannot continue her schooling when the family moves from Dublin.  She dreams of more from her life than the monotony of housework. Rose is happier at home, though she would perhaps like to not have been left at home to do everything.  The youngest child, Eugene, is nonverbal and deeply attuned to the world around him.

O’Farrell is such a gorgeous, cinematic writer.  Her descriptions are rich, lush, and almost fragrant.  I was so immersed in her language that I was a bit surprised to find that at the end of the book, I came away feeling slightly dissatisfied.  The final section was amazing, but there was something missing for me.  I’m not sure if I wanted more from the book, or perhaps less.  I liked it a lot, but I didn’t love it.  Recommended.