Book cover of On Canaan's Side

Book description

'As they used to say in Ireland, the devil only comes into good things.' Narrated by Lilly Bere, "On Canaan's Side" opens as she mourns the loss of her grandson, Bill. The story then goes back to the moment she was forced to flee Dublin, at the end of the…

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Why read it?

1 author picked On Canaan's Side as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

This is also a book by an Irish writer, Sebastian Barry.  First of all the book is beautifully written. I cannot read a badly written book no matter how interesting the plot, and here from the very first page you know you are in the hands of a master. 

This book is told in the first person by Lily Bere, an impoverished Irish immigrant to the US looking back over about 70 years of her life. The story begins when Lily was forced to flee Ireland for her life at the end of the First World War and recounts the…

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