by Jon Hassler, 1985, Ballentine Books, New York

I picked this book up as I had run out of books to read, so I started looking around for something light to read in the bookcases in our condo in RI.  I seemed to recall that I had read something by Hassler in the distant past that I had really liked.  After looking at other books that he wrote it turned out that it was North of Hope that I had read many years ago.

It turned out that this book wasn’t much to my liking other that it was an easy read.  Hassler intersperses references to The Troubles that were occurring in Ireland into a tale about a soon to be retired school teacher and her visit to Ireland to connect with a pen-pal with whom she had been corresponding for some time.

The story was okay as were the characters, but not much more than okay.  The book just wasn’t compelling, and, as it is one book of a series, it wasn’t a complete story in and of itself.  The ending seemed as if it was just a convenient place to leave off so the reader could run out and purchase the next book to find out what the heck happened to the characters after the interlude depicted in this one.  I think the following book might be still on the shelf of the bookcase where I found this one.  Who knows?  Maybe I will find myself in the same situation in the future … roaming around looking for something to read that strikes my fancy at that particular moment and then I pick up the sequel.  Not a likely scenario at the present time, but I can’t predict the future.

Nonetheless, this book was somewhat enjoyable to read so it served its purpose.