The Matchmaker of Kenmare: A Novel of Ireland Review

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(More customer reviews)This 400 page novel opens with our narrator, Ben McCarthy, an Irish folklore collector, reminiscing about events that occurred in his life, decades ago when he was in his 20's and 30's. It was 1943 when he first met Kate Begley, the Matchmaker of Kenmare. He was 29, she 25. World War II was raging, and tiny Ireland was trying to stay out of it by declaring itself a neutral party to the war.
Although opposites in many ways, Ben and Kate were nevertheless drawn toward each other from the very beginning. As their lives became intertwined through shared adventures and misadventures that included risking their lives helping the American war efforts in Europe, they came to know each other in ways that not even their respective spouses were privileged to.
Throughout the novel, readers would be kept wondering if Ben and Kate's ever deepening friendship would blossom into mutual love. For Ben, there was the question of his holding on to memories of his actress wife, Venetia Kelly, who had been missing for years. Where could she be? Was she still alive? For Kate, the question would revolve around her loyalty to her "soulmate" Charles Miller, an American Intelligence Officer whose dangerous duties would bring tragic changes to his, Kate's, and Ben's lives.
This epic story of faith and sacrifice tended to plod along and meander with digressions into folklores, legends, and factual historical tidbits that I did not always care for (the folklores and legends more so than the historical tidbits). The frequent telegraphing of ominous things to come sometimes proved tedious to me, especially in the less interesting first half of the novel.
Fortunately, the strong writing and introduction of unexpected characters in the second half of the novel turned things around for me. The author's account of Ben and Kate's harrowing experiences through the woods in Germany was gripping, and his account of the lovely gestures shown to Kate by her new neighbors in America had a stroke of inventiveness in it. Finally, the account of Ben's ultimate classy act of grace brings the novel to a poignant ending that I think will touch many hearts.

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