Shannon: A Novel of Ireland
In the summer of 1922, Robert Shannon, a young American hero of the Great War, lands in Ireland. A Marine chaplain, he was present at the frightful Battle of Belleau Wood, and he still suffers from shell shock. His mentor hopes that a journey Robert had always wanted to make to find his family roots will restore his equilibrium and his vocation. But there is more to the story: On his return from the war, Robert Shannon witnessed startling and lethal corruption in the Archdiocese of Boston. As a consequence, he has also been sent to Ireland to secure his silence permanently.

At dawn one morning, Robert steps ashore from a freighter in the river's estuary and is thrust headlong into the maelstrom of Irish politics, with the country now roiling from the civil war that followed the 1921 Treaty with Britain. While Robert faces the dangers of a strife-torn nation and is pursued by the venom of true evil, Ireland's myths and people, its beliefs and traditions, its humor and wit, unfurl healingly before his feet every step of the way.

Shannon is a timeless and unforgettable account of salvation, belief, duty, and the healing power of discovering one's roots.
1112984857
Shannon: A Novel of Ireland
In the summer of 1922, Robert Shannon, a young American hero of the Great War, lands in Ireland. A Marine chaplain, he was present at the frightful Battle of Belleau Wood, and he still suffers from shell shock. His mentor hopes that a journey Robert had always wanted to make to find his family roots will restore his equilibrium and his vocation. But there is more to the story: On his return from the war, Robert Shannon witnessed startling and lethal corruption in the Archdiocese of Boston. As a consequence, he has also been sent to Ireland to secure his silence permanently.

At dawn one morning, Robert steps ashore from a freighter in the river's estuary and is thrust headlong into the maelstrom of Irish politics, with the country now roiling from the civil war that followed the 1921 Treaty with Britain. While Robert faces the dangers of a strife-torn nation and is pursued by the venom of true evil, Ireland's myths and people, its beliefs and traditions, its humor and wit, unfurl healingly before his feet every step of the way.

Shannon is a timeless and unforgettable account of salvation, belief, duty, and the healing power of discovering one's roots.
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Shannon: A Novel of Ireland

Shannon: A Novel of Ireland

by Frank Delaney

Narrated by Frank Delaney

Unabridged — 14 hours, 26 minutes

Shannon: A Novel of Ireland

Shannon: A Novel of Ireland

by Frank Delaney

Narrated by Frank Delaney

Unabridged — 14 hours, 26 minutes

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Overview

In the summer of 1922, Robert Shannon, a young American hero of the Great War, lands in Ireland. A Marine chaplain, he was present at the frightful Battle of Belleau Wood, and he still suffers from shell shock. His mentor hopes that a journey Robert had always wanted to make to find his family roots will restore his equilibrium and his vocation. But there is more to the story: On his return from the war, Robert Shannon witnessed startling and lethal corruption in the Archdiocese of Boston. As a consequence, he has also been sent to Ireland to secure his silence permanently.

At dawn one morning, Robert steps ashore from a freighter in the river's estuary and is thrust headlong into the maelstrom of Irish politics, with the country now roiling from the civil war that followed the 1921 Treaty with Britain. While Robert faces the dangers of a strife-torn nation and is pursued by the venom of true evil, Ireland's myths and people, its beliefs and traditions, its humor and wit, unfurl healingly before his feet every step of the way.

Shannon is a timeless and unforgettable account of salvation, belief, duty, and the healing power of discovering one's roots.

Editorial Reviews

The Battle of Belleau Wood ended four years before, but former American Marine chaplain Robert Shannon is still suffering from shell shock incurred in the fight. Finally, in the summer of 1922, he travels to the Ireland to find his family roots and some personal tranquility. What this fragile, gentle man does not know is that his trip to the Emerald Isle was facilitated by agents of the Archdiocese of Boston who know that his testimony could ruin them. As Ireland struggles through its own civil war, Shannon moves towards healing even as he grapples with terrors he can never quite leave behind. A smoothly plotted, well-researched historical novel by the author of Ireland.

Bill Sheehan

Delaney handles Shannon's therapeutic journey with sympathy and skill, introducing a diverse cast of Irish characters and layering the narrative with the sort of arcane native lore—historical, cultural and geographic—that adds a welcome depth of background to the central story. His descriptions of the condition once known as shell shock are detailed and convincing
—The Washington Post

Kirkus Reviews

A rousing tale of forbidden love, civil war, horrible death and other things Irish. Ireland-born novelist Delaney (Tipperary, 2007, etc.) never met a turning point in the Emerald Isle's history that he didn't like. With this entry in his ongoing epic cycle of novels, he turns to a big one: the bloody strife that accompanied the birth of the Irish Free State in 1922 and '23. American priest Robert Shannon lands on Ireland's shore just as the bullets start flying, and bad luck for him: A former chaplain serving with the U.S. Marines in France during World War I, he suffers from a textbook case of shell shock. That malady occasions a characteristically encyclopedic aside from Delaney, just as the book opens, on the etiology and management of posttraumatic stress-and readers who dislike didacticism should be warned that his narrative often pauses to break the fourth wall and explain what's what: "One of the symptoms of their illness . . . is a morbid irritability-they tend to become upset and to take offense at the merest trifles-and this leads to trouble with the other patients, the nurses, and the medical officers responsible for discipline." Morbid irritability being an Irish specialty, Shannon fits right in with the village folk he is called to serve, out in the country in which, the locals say, Saint Patrick himself was afraid to wander. Shannon restructures his shattered life while wandering in places where he's not supposed to, including the arms of a widow lady-but it would be spoiling things to tell, save to note that Delaney explains, "In the Ireland of 1922, virginity dominated the lives of single women, and the relevant fire and brimstone rained down every Sunday from pulpits allover the country." How this transgression resolves, and how Shannon manages to keep from cracking up in his war-torn adopted country, makes for a fine adventure in storytelling. A well-crafted, satisfying work of historical fiction, as are all of Delaney's novels; respectful of the facts while not cowed by them, and full of life. Author tour to Boston, New York, Washington, D.C., Chicago/Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Dallas, Seattle, Portland, Ore., San Francisco. Agent: Ed Victor/Ed Victor Ltd.

Product Details

BN ID: 2940169320145
Publisher: Penguin Random House
Publication date: 02/10/2009
Edition description: Unabridged
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