Title - Arrival of Fergal Flynn
 | Arrival of Fergal Flynn
Kennedy, Brian
Brian Kennedy is one of Ireland's best-loved singer-songwriters. The Arrival of Fergal Flynn, his first foray into fiction, is an enchanting coming-of-age story of a young man—a misfit—meeting life and love head-on in war-torn Belfast of the 1980s. Fergal embarks on a passionate yet impossible love affair with a local priest, who discovers in him a hidden talent for singing. This is a compelling novel about secrets of the heart, the sins of the father, triumphing against the odds and finding love in unexpected places. (Hatchette)
| Price: $22.95
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Series : Fergal Flynn #1
ISBN: 9780340832301
Type: Pbk.
Number of pages: 320pp
Publisher: Hodder Headline
Date Of Publication: 200512
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| Review By: Rowland Thomson
Brian Kennedy has written a semi-autobiographical story of 11-year-old Flynn growing up in 1980s war-torn Belfast. Flynn seems to have been born into the wrong family (how many gay teenagers are convinced that they must have been adopted?). His older brothers, who are twins, and his younger brother are all local sporting heroes. They and his father despise him, releasing their anger on him when their hurling team loses. As he grows older these differences only become worse. To defuse the situation, his mother encourages him to stay with his aging grandma who alone gives him a reason to live. When the local priest hears Fergal singing in the street, his life changes forever both by helping him understand his sexuality and by giving him an opportunity to express himself through his singing.
Kennedy brings alive the desperation of one teenager’s personal war-zone living in the midst of the English crackdown in Northern Ireland in the mid 80s. The attraction between Flynn and Father Mac develops slowly at first, adding an erotic charge to the second half of the novel. Kennedy never shies away from the sexuality at the heart of the book, with the innocence of Flynn’s early years contrasted with more graphic depictions of the intimacy between Flynn and Father Mac.
Kennedy has a written a novel that suits both younger and older readers alike. The portrayal of poverty and the way it can feed violence against those that are different hits home in a way that I often find American novels miss. The emotional turmoil and guilt faced by Father Mac when he realises his love for Flynn and also the measures he takes to diffuse these emotions are presented without judgement. Highly recommended.
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