Rite of spring
That extended Irish family, the Ryans, are back in Greeley's latest novel, and once again the world is divided into two kinds of women: the embittered ones and the warm, motherly sort; and two kinds of families: those who pull together against all odds, and those who exist in an emotional war zone. Behind mild Brendan Ryan is an unhappy ex-wife, an alienated and volatile teenage daughter, Jean, and a set of old friends who have truly seen better days. In a plot that aims to rework the search for the Holy Grail, Brendan is rejuvenated by love for a strapping Irishwoman, whose mysterious past comes to light when she disappears completely, stranding him in the midst of a police investigation into the bombing death of his ex-wife. He and his newly reconciled daughter follow Ciara's faint trail to an IRA splinter group that kidnaps Jean, turning Brendan into a gunslinging hero hellbent on rescuing his loved ones
Print Book, English, 1988, ©1987
Macdonald, London, 1988, ©1987