The Library at the Edge of the World
Felicity Hayes-McCoy
2017, 340 pages
Fiction
Hanna Casey is the local librarian in Lissberg, a small village on the west coast of Ireland. Hannah drives the bookmobile and often has folks flagging her down on her rounds to exchange a book. The bookmobile is a way to keep the small villages connected along the rural coastline.
But the Lissberg Library is in jeopardy of being closed, and Hannah’s personal life is in a muddle as well. She’s gone through a difficult divorce and now Hannah lives with her cranky mother in a cramped house. Hannah needs a place of her own. Hannah employs an eccentric local handyman named “Fury,” who has a dog named “The Divil” to rebuild the cottage that Hannah’s aunt left her. It’s a rundown old cottage, but it is set high on a cliff overlooking the sea, with a fantastic view.
Hannah has never been close to her neighbors. But now is the time for people to gather round and try to save the library and help the community. And unexpected allies appear in the form of her library co-worker and an elderly nun as well as a young local baker. And others from the Finfarran Peninsula step in to help, people Hannah would never have expected.
Filled with charm, humor and interesting characters, this book might remind you of a novel written by Maeve Binchy or Rosamund Pilcher. You can easily imagine the views from the little cottage on the cliff, and the characters in the small library – a library at the edge of the world.
Robbin BaileyConcord Public Library
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