On Halloween: Two Recent Novels Set in Ireland Where Magic Still Casts Its Spell

 

 My children's friends dressed up for Halloween and went trick or treating--all except those who lived up the street in one of the more modern houses.  At the time I thought this was a little strange, but who am I to judge?  The fact that the mother was from Ireland weighed in there somewhere, I suspected, but I didn't realize how strong the magical, sometimes threatening world of fairies and other creatures was a part of Irish society, even among folks who were completely "modern" until I recently read two novels by Irish writers where the other world is very prominent.

 

The books are Land by Maggie Farrell and The Time of the Child by Niall Williams.  The first takes place mostly in the middle to late 19th century in Ireland and other places to which many Irish fled following the Great Hunger of the Potato Famine. The second is firmly anchored in the mid 20th century, as electricity and television are coming to the country. What they have in common--in addition to evocative descriptions and a compelling story--is the role that belief in magic plays in everyday life.  You aren't supposed to mess with fairies or sacred wells or curses or the like, not because they are unChristian but because they still have power.

 

Both writers paint this backdrop of belief vividly, but without giving it much credence.  Christianity doesn't fare much better: it also is part of the landscape but prayer doesn't work in a world where folks are poor and caught in changing colonial and technological traps. Both novels also are engaging stories, well worth seeking out particularly as the days grow short, winter approaches, and darkness menaces.

 

So now I understand better why my neighbour kept her kids home on Halloween.  You don't mess with forces you see out of the corner of your eye: best to stay on their good side.