To move from the short story genre to writing a novel is a hugely challenging literary journey. It is a challenge that Pat has met with masterful success. The reader is transported to a time, places and society, all of which are vastly different to those of the modern era. And yet the issues, concerns and challenges of the past are still relevant and hugely significant in today's world.
In this novel, Pat Mcloughlin has created vivid images of life in rural Ireland and the blight of emigration in the succeeding decades of the 20th Century from the 1920's to the 1970's. This was an Ireland of sharp contrasts that Pat has explored in quite some depth: there were close family ties; music; dance and romance; generosity and hospitality ? all the hallmarks of a caring society. However, there was also the downtrodden Ireland: the mother and baby homes; the isolation of those who differed from what were the accepted norms; the hiring fairs and the plight of "servant girls and boys"; a social class system that was not publicly articulated but where dividing lines were implicit and crossed at one's peril.
The Canary in The Mine is based on a period of time in which life in rural Ireland was dominated by physical toil and a continuous flow of emigration from the land. Pat has brought together a group of Irish emigrants in London where their life stories continue to unfold in divergent and unexpected ways.
Yet in these testing conditions, life-long friendships were developed, and bonds of loyalty were established. As a master of suspense, Pat keeps us guessing as characters and plots continue to interact and develop and we find ourselves engaging with them on an emotional roller coaster ? never quite knowing what destination will be reached. As characters in the novel remind us, despite all the odds, human beings are capable of achieving great things.
The Canary in The Mine will appeal to readers of all ages. Pat's novel is a praiseworthy and authentic literary enterprise from which readers will hopefully draw knowledge and inspiration.
Dr. Paddy Fullam.
