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Kilgorman A Story of Ireland in 1798 By: Talbot Baines Reed (1852-1893) |
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By Talbot Baines Reed
This was Reed's last book, written even as he lay dying, presumably from
cancer. It is a very well written book, and is very interesting, even
though as in the works of Kingston and Collingwood there are a lot of
swimming episodes. The time of the story is in the 1790s, during the French Revolution,
which we see at close quarters during our hero's time in France. We
also visit Rotterdam, in Holland. But most of the action, at least that
which takes place on dry land, takes place in Donegal, that long wild
part of Ireland that lies to its extreme north west. There are several lines of the story. One of these is the great love
that exists between the hero and his twin brother. Another is the
question, Are they brothers? For only one person actually knows, and
she is far away: the hint that there is a problem is given in a dying
note by the woman that passed as the boys' mother. The third theme is,
as always with Ireland, plotting for an uprising against English rule.
In this department nothing changes. Yes, it is a brilliant book, complemented by an "In Memoriam" article
about the life of the author.
KILGORMAN
A STORY OF IRELAND IN 1798 BY TALBOT BAINES REED Preface, by John Sime
IN MEMORIAM. By the death of Talbot B. Reed the boys of the English speaking world
have lost one of their best friends. For fourteen years he has
contributed to their pleasure, and in the little library of boys' books
which left his pen he has done as much as any writer of our day to raise
the standard of boys' literature. His books are alike removed from the
old fashioned and familiar class of boys' stories, which, meaning well,
generally baffled their own purpose by attempting to administer morality
and doctrine on what Reed called the "powder in jam" principle a
process apt to spoil the jam, yet make "the powder" no less nauseous;
or, on the other hand, the class of book that dealt in thrilling
adventure of the blood curdling and "penny dreadful" order. With
neither of these types have Talbot Reed's boys' books any kinship. His
boys are of flesh and blood, such as fill our public schools, such as
brighten or "make hay" of the peace of our homes. He had the rare art
of hitting off boy nature, with just that spice of wickedness in it
without which a boy is not a boy. His heroes have always the charm of
bounding, youthful energy, and youth's invincible hopefulness, and the
constant flow of good spirits which have made the boys of all time
perennially interesting. The secret of Reed's success in this direction was that all through
life, as every one who had the privilege of knowing him can testify, he
possessed in himself the healthy freshness of heart of boyhood. He
sympathised with the troubles and joys, he understood the temptations,
and fathomed the motives that sway and mould boy character; he had the
power of depicting that side of life with infinite humour and pathos,
possible only to one who could place himself sympathetically at the
boys' stand point in life. Hence the wholesomeness of tone and the
breezy freshness of his work. His boy heroes are neither prigs nor
milk sops, but in their strength and weakness they are the stuff which
ultimately makes our best citizens and fathers; they are the boys who,
later in life, with healthy minds in healthy bodies, have made the
British Empire what it is. A special and pathetic interest attaches to this story of "Kilgorman,"
the last that left Talbot Reed's pen. It was undertaken while he was
yet in the prime of his strength and vigour. The illness which
ultimately, alas, ended fatally had already laid hold on him ere he had
well begun the book. In intervals of ease during his last illness he
worked at it, sometimes in bed, sometimes in his armchair: it is
pleasant to think that he so enjoyed the work that its production eased
and soothed many a weary hour for him, and certainly never was other
than a recreation to him... Continue reading book >>
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Genres for this book |
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Fiction |
History |
Teen/Young adult |
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Wikipedia – Talbot Baines Reed |
Wikipedia – Kilgorman A Story of Ireland in 1798 |
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