The Family on Paradise Pier

by Dermot Bolger

Book Overview

A stunning historical saga set in the early decades of the twentieth century which follows the lives and loves of one extraordinary family.

We first meet the Goold Verschoyle children in 1915. Though there is a war going on in the world outside, they seem hardly touched by it - midnight swims, flower fairies and regatta parties form the backdrop to their enchanted childhood. But as they grow older, changes within Ireland and the wider world...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0007154100
• ISBN13: 9780007154104
• Release Date: May 2006
• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 5.1" x 7.6"

Customer Reviews

Fascinating, engrossing

Fascinating fictional account of the life and times of the Anglo-Protestant Goold Verschoyle family, whose idyllic life in Donegal becomes shattered by World War I, the Irish revolution and Civil War, as well as long-simmering sibling rivalry and family guilt about its relative wealth amidst poverty. Two of the three brothers turn to Communism while their sister -- the sheltered, romantic Eva -- learns to accommodate the realities and compromises of life without surrendering herself to them. Events take the family from rural Ireland to Dublin to London to the Spanish Civil War to Moscow and to Stalin's Gulags. Compulsively readable -- I devoured most of it in one sitting -- it's one of the most insightful novels about class and the personal relationship to it that I've read. Includes cameo appearances by Brendan Behan and James Gralton, among others. And, it's based on the on an actual family named Goold Verschoyle. Bolger met the character based on Eva over 30 years ago, taped many of their conversations, and waited for them to ferment into a novel. Highly recommended. More on the Verschoyles here: http://www.verschoyle.org.uk/