Night Stages, by Jane Urquart. A Review by poet Margaret Rose Cunningham

The   Night  Stages. A review by Margaret Rose Cunningham

 

                     Jane Urquhart writes with assurance.  Her imagery is elegant:  Her sense  of time and place authentic. Her characters ring true.   A sadness, however, like a fog,blows through the book,  tinting the tale at almost every turn.   

                     “Night Stages “, set in the remote area of County Kerry, Ireland explores the meaning of separation , and the sorrows of broken families. You will be struck  by the emotional depth of the novel and will not easily forget the problems and agony suffered by the characters. 

 

                        Each of the main characters, Tam ,Niall and Niall’s brother  Kieran suffer from deep traumas. Tam , because her love for Niall is not returned;  Niall because he failed to help his brother Kieran, and Kieran because of his mother’s suicide at a vulnerable time in his life.  The situation is not helped  when the two brothers fall in love with the same woman. Only Annie , a countrywoman ,and her friends,  are a redeeming presence in Kieran’s life when she takes him into her home.

 

                          At the conclusion of the book ,we are left  with some hope that the suffering of all of them will be mitigated. Tam has left Ireland only to be stopped in Gander , NFL. by the fog. There she meditates  on Canadian Ken Lochhead’s  mural  for three days.   When the fog dissipates,  the plane can take off.Hope replaces the sadness.   

       Jane Urquhart