Bring Larks and Heroes

The best way to review Keneally is to use the allotted thousand words to cite quotations from his work. Bring Larks and Heroes is an item within a well established genre - Irish writers conveying their intense feelings of who and where they are. In this case, however, the Irishman is a third generation Australian, the place is half-way around the planet and it's in the founding years of the Port Jackson prison colony.Keneally's Corporal Phelim Halloran represents nearly every aspect of Irish traditions. He's even been jailed for taking part in a subversive meeting before shipment to Australia. He wasn't shipped as a felon, however, but as part of the guard contingent. Beset on all sides by the harshness of British military governance and the Australian environment alike, he's confronted with a succession of difficult choice s. Ann Rush is a fellow Irish Catholic who Halloran considers his "wife" even without the sanctity of a Church-mandated ceremony. Keneally gives her a subtle power to influence Halloran's thinking. She becomes a pivot point of his considered options. Confronted by a rebellion of Irish prisoners, who seem to be the only ones capable of organizing one, Halloran studiously avoids taking any lives. But a new opportunity arises, one promising a new kind of freedom. Halloran makes a choice; with eternal consequences.Is it stereotyping to say that an Irishman remains Irish no matter where the British or Nature has driven or taken him? Keneally's ancestry gracefully emerges through his words. He is able to convey the mixture of Celtic traditions, Roman Catholicism under Anglican rule, felon and Marine interactions, brought together on the eastern shores of The Last Continent. While relating his tale of people embroiled in heart-rending events, Keneally remains able to convey the uniquess of the Australian environment. The morbid greyness of gum tree forests, sky and sea in collusion to overwhelm the senses, the sterility of the coastal soils, all conspired to bend the minds of the English exiles.Keneally is Australia's bard. In fact, he's the Bard of the English language. His prose echoes the the beauty of the best bardic poetry. He has no peers as a storyteller, building characters from minimal sources. He's done it with THE PLAYMAKER, WOMAN OF THE INNER SEA, GOSSIP FROM THE FOREST and many others. Even his works dealing with more contemporary events present us with people we come to know intimately by the end of the story. Of all the historical fiction he's done only THE PLAYMAKER displays his talents more fully than does BRING LARKS AND HEROES. This book is truly a paean to his abilities and it's time and location mustn't deter you sampling what he can accomplish. He is a man of feeling, and without making his characters into something artificial, he can impart those feelings through them. If you haven't experienced Keneally, this is a fine place to start. There's a price, th