Two Irish Lads [Hardcover]

Gerry Burnie's TWO IRISH LADS is a quaint tale of second cousins Sean and Patrick McConaghy who migrate to Canada from their homeland of Ireland in the year 1820. With their life's savings they intended to buy some land in "upper Canada" (the area now known as Ontario) and make a good life as farmers with the hope of prosperity.

Once they arrive they visit the land office and select a choice piece of property. With a few supplies and a tent, they take on the task of clearing the land, hoping to build a shelter before winter. The two lads eventually realize they are in love. One of the settlement's wealthy leaders, Nealon, takes them under his wing, giving them advice, arranging a cabin-raising for them, and even getting Sean a job as a schoolmaster. It is soon revealed that he has an ulterior motive in that he hopes they might marry his two daughters.

There are a few harsh realities through which they must persevere, before all the dust settles, but I won't spoil it by revealing any more.

The story is written in the style of Sean's daily journal. While the first few chapters do indeed read like an authentic journal, thankfully Burnie then shifts to more of a first-person narrative than how a real journal would read, but that is simply to accommodate the storytelling process.

Burnie's knowledge and research shine through in that the story beautifully describes 19th century Irish customs and decorum. He even uses a few Gaelic phrases, always with translation, and the dialog sounds so right you can practically hear the Irish brogue.

I thought the characters were well-developed and exuded a great deal of charm. Sean was the leader and sensible one, whereas the younger Patrick was more carefree and daring. While he yearned to be able to be open and proclaim his "secret love" to the world, he deferred to Sean's wisdom and together they balanced each other out. The details of frontier life were also well researched, and the descriptions were vivid enough to give us a good picture of the landscapes and the settlements.

My quibbles are minor - I'd have liked to see more of Sean actually teaching the children, and I felt there were a few times some of the characters were just a little too perky for my taste.

I really enjoyed TWO IRISH LADS. It suits my personal taste of an upbeat depiction of frontier life, and I especially like stories where people come together to help each other and fight against the evils that threaten them. I look forward to reading more from this gifted author.

Mark R. Probst
The Filly

I am a third year journalism major with a keen interest in history, so when I heard about the Two Irish Lads I just had to give it a read.

Author, Gerry Burnie, has written a journal-style novel with such credibility that I had to check the publication date to convince myself that it wasn't a reprint from the 19th century. I also enjoyed his attention to detail throughout, and the use of footnotes to elaborate on the historical facts involved--e.g., I didn't know how April Fool's Day got its name until now.

Having said that, I would have liked to see a bit more `raunchiness', but given the era (c.1820) I suppose he went as far as he could go in keeping with the morality of the time. Nevertheless, the sex scenes are certainly `sexy' enough, especially the one on the horse's back--personally, I can't wait to try that one myself--and the adventure, humour and brawls make up for the rest of it. The ending is quite a surprise too, but I won't spoil it for the other readers.

I highly recommend this story and author to all those who enjoy m/m historical fiction and romance.

Unfortunately, I found the historical footnotes to be the most interesting part of the book. Though I wanted to like the characters, I was never able to see them nor their relationship as more than two-dimensional. The ending was predictable, even from early stages in the book. I'm afraid my expectation was a rich and insightful story and reality was a mildly charming afternoon read.

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