The Canal Bridge
A Novel of Ireland, Love, and the First World War
Published on 28. July 2016
Book
Paperback/Softback
348 pages
978-1-62872-637-4 (ISBN)
Description
?The best novel of love in the time of war since Cold Mountain." ?Howard Frank Mosher, author of Walking to Gatlinburg
In 1913, before there is a rumor of war in Europe, two lifelong friends from Ballyrannel in the Irish midlands, Matthias ?Matt" Wrenn and Con Hatchel, decide to see the world at the expense of the king of England and join the British army. A year later, while en route to India, their troop ship is recalled and they find themselves in the slaughterhouse that was World War I. As stretcher bearers, the two men witness the horrors of the battlefield and the waste of human life at the Somme, Ypres, and Passchendaele. Meanwhile, back home in Ireland, Con's sister and Matt's lover, Kitty Hatchel, yearns for their safe return and reminds them of their carefree childhood on the banks of the local canal, as well as their hopes for the future.
Brilliantly and movingly narrated as a chorus of voices from the community?Matt, Con, Kitty, and others?The Canal Bridge tells the story of how the young men take Ballyrannel to war with them, and the many ways they bring the war's devastation home. At war's end, the Ireland the friends left in 1913 no longer exists, for the Rising against the British in 1916 has changed everything. In a land now riven with sectarian tensions and mounting bloodshed unfolds the love story of Matt and Kitty.
Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade, Yucca, and Good Books imprints, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in fiction?novels, novellas, political and medical thrillers, comedy, satire, historical fiction, romance, erotic and love stories, mystery, classic literature, folklore and mythology, literary classics including Shakespeare, Dumas, Wilde, Cather, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
In 1913, before there is a rumor of war in Europe, two lifelong friends from Ballyrannel in the Irish midlands, Matthias ?Matt" Wrenn and Con Hatchel, decide to see the world at the expense of the king of England and join the British army. A year later, while en route to India, their troop ship is recalled and they find themselves in the slaughterhouse that was World War I. As stretcher bearers, the two men witness the horrors of the battlefield and the waste of human life at the Somme, Ypres, and Passchendaele. Meanwhile, back home in Ireland, Con's sister and Matt's lover, Kitty Hatchel, yearns for their safe return and reminds them of their carefree childhood on the banks of the local canal, as well as their hopes for the future.
Brilliantly and movingly narrated as a chorus of voices from the community?Matt, Con, Kitty, and others?The Canal Bridge tells the story of how the young men take Ballyrannel to war with them, and the many ways they bring the war's devastation home. At war's end, the Ireland the friends left in 1913 no longer exists, for the Rising against the British in 1916 has changed everything. In a land now riven with sectarian tensions and mounting bloodshed unfolds the love story of Matt and Kitty.
Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade, Yucca, and Good Books imprints, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in fiction?novels, novellas, political and medical thrillers, comedy, satire, historical fiction, romance, erotic and love stories, mystery, classic literature, folklore and mythology, literary classics including Shakespeare, Dumas, Wilde, Cather, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
Reviews / Votes
?Tom Phelan's The Canal Bridge is the best novel of love in the time of war since Cold Mountain. It is an old-fashioned story in the very best sense: dramatic, passionate, unpredictable, gorgeously written, heartbreakingly true, ultimately ennobling. This is truly a great book. I loved every page." ?Howard Frank Mosher, author of Walking to Gatlinburg?The Canal Bridge is a tour de force of writing, passionate, moving, and brilliant. Here is World War I in all its madness, and its terrible humanity." ?Kevin Baker, author of The Big Crowd
?There is no false bravado in Phelan's riveting, unsparing account, no sentimentality, no hollow heroes, no hyper-patriotic blather. Phelan's characters live and breathe and bleed. Phelan's fiction is the real thing. The Canal Bridge is a classic." ?Peter Quinn, author of The Banished Children of Eve and Dry Bones
?Another First World War masterpiece . . . Ambitious, accomplished, and deeply moving." ?Irish Independent
?Effectively constructed and emotionally honest . . . the reader gains a new perspective on how the Great War decimated lives throughout Europe." ?Booklist, starred review
?Masterful . . . Must be ranked among the most successful novels dealing with the First World War." ?Irish Emigrant
?Phelan is a marvelous storyteller. Don't miss out on a great contemporary author." ?Irish Eyes (Paris)
?Incredibly moving story . . . The writing is consistently stunning." ?Irish Echo
?The Canal Bridge sings and weeps . . . Thrilling." ?Celtic Connection
?Powerful and deeply affecting." ?Books Ireland
?More than just a war story . . . Tom Phelan has created a powerfully imagined story from these little known years of that war . . . [He] handles his narrative voices extraordinarily well." ?allinoneboat.org ?Tom Phelan's The Canal Bridge is the best novel of love in the time of war since Cold Mountain. It is an old-fashioned story in the very best sense: dramatic, passionate, unpredictable, gorgeously written, heartbreakingly true, ultimately ennobling. This is truly a great book. I loved every page." ?Howard Frank Mosher, author of Walking to Gatlinburg
?The Canal Bridge is a tour de force of writing, passionate, moving, and brilliant. Here is World War I in all its madness, and its terrible humanity." ?Kevin Baker, author of The Big Crowd
?There is no false bravado in Phelan's riveting, unsparing account, no sentimentality, no hollow heroes, no hyper-patriotic blather. Phelan's characters live and breathe and bleed. Phelan's fiction is the real thing. The Canal Bridge is a classic." ?Peter Quinn, author of The Banished Children of Eve and Dry Bones
?Another First World War masterpiece . . . Ambitious, accomplished, and deeply moving." ?Irish Independent
?Effectively constructed and emotionally honest . . . the reader gains a new perspective on how the Great War decimated lives throughout Europe." ?Booklist, starred review
?Masterful . . . Must be ranked among the most successful novels dealing with the First World War." ?Irish Emigrant
?Phelan is a marvelous storyteller. Don't miss out on a great contemporary author." ?Irish Eyes (Paris)
?Incredibly moving story . . . The writing is consistently stunning." ?Irish Echo
?The Canal Bridge sings and weeps . . . Thrilling." ?Celtic Connection
?Powerful and deeply affecting." ?Books Ireland
?More than just a war story . . . Tom Phelan has created a powerfully imagined story from these little known years of that war . . . [He] handles his narrative voices extraordinarily well." ?allinoneboat.org
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Publishing group
Skyhorse Publishing
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 206 mm
Width: 140 mm
Thickness: 23 mm
Weight
363 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-62872-637-4 (9781628726374)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
04/2014
Arcade Publishing
€12.85
Available for download
Person
Tom Phelan's first novel, In the Season of the Daisies, was published to critical acclaim when he was fifty, prompting one reviewer to ask, ?Where has Mr. Phelan been?" His most recent novel, also published by Arcade, is Lies the Mushroom Pickers Told. Born and raised on a farm in Co. Laois, Ireland, Phelan now lives in New York.