Books like Four Letters of Love

"Falling slowly sing your melodyI'll sing along"-- Falling Slowly, Songwriters: Glen Hansard / Marketa IrglovaAlmost two years ago I read Niall Williams History of the Rain, which I loved, it remains among my favourites. Last year, I read the first of a series of four books he wrote along with his wife, which share their experiences of leaving their life and careers in New York City and moving to a small cottage in the land of their ancestors, the everyday ins and outs of life in their little corner of Ireland. I felt the call to return to the magic of his stories, and to revisit the magic of County Clare, Galway, and the Western Isles. \ ”When I was twelve years old God spoke to my father for the first time. God didn’t say much. He told my father to be a painter, and left it at that, returning to a seat amongst the angels and watching through the clouds over the grey city to see what would happen next.”\ Until that day, his father had spent his weekdays inside his office as a civil servant. Their lives would change overnight. His father would leave his wife and son, Nicholas, to fulfill this command over the summer months. Two years pass with no income, and then his mother is gone. When another painting trip to the western coast comes up, Nicholas manages to convince his father to allow him to come along. It will prove to be a memorable trip in many ways.\ ”The words have vanished and I am left mostly with pictures of my early childhood: my father in a grey suit coming in the front door from the office in the fog of November evenings, the briefcase flopping by the telephone table, the creak in the stairs and across the ceiling above the kitchen as he changes into a cardigan and comes down for his tea. The great shelf of his forehead floating up above the line of a newspaper in response to some question.”\ After a few years spent in his own civil service office job, Nicholas goes in search of one of the paintings that his father painted on that trip to the coast, where so many of his memories pull him back to now and again, hoping to purchase it back from the man, a poet, who won it in a raffle. He meets not only the man, but also the man’s wife and their son. The son is wheelchair-bound following an incident involving his sister, Isabel, who is no longer living at their parent’s home. Eventually, Nicholas will meet her after an occurrence that can only be described as inexplicably wondrous. Isabel, now attending a convent school, seems to have developed a rebellious side, and life in this convent sends her in a decidedly un-nun-like direction. \ ”It was the game she loved at first... She would hear the footsteps and laugh, putting a hand to her mouth to catch it quickly, throwing back her hair and standing up to get ready, holding off that look in her eyes that was proud and victorious until she was already down the corridor and out through the front door once more, feeling the wind like an embrace and the raw kiss of freedom.”\ Life. Death. Nature. Destiny. Devotion. Art. Facing our doubts. Faith - in ourselves, our abilities, our choices, and in the spiritual sense, and Love being the ultimate expression of our faith. The choices we make, as well as a sense of spirituality are a significant part of this story, but with a bit of magical realism woven throughout. The lyrically rhythmic writing took my breath away, made my heart ache and then melted it all over again with the beautifully descriptive imagery, and an enchanted story that is filled with sad moments, but, oh, so much love.Five magical(-realism)ly delicious stars