The Misremembered Man: A Good Summer Read

The last book I read was The Misremembered Man by Christina McKenna. It started out slow but that was more my fault for trying to read the book during my garage sale last Saturday. I was frustrated because I could tell that it was a book that I would enjoy if I wasn’t distracted. My opportunity came later in the day when the garage sale items were packed up and Adam and I had a quiet afternoon alone (my parents were watching the kids). I was afforded the luxury of reading the book in one sitting…with no interruptions!

I hadn’t realized when I discovered the book at my library that the author is from Northern Ireland and the story takes place in County Derry, Ireland. This was especially enjoyable for me and brought back memories of my anniversary trip to Northern Ireland last year. I loved reading the accent and picturing the scenery.

Like all good Irish stories, The Misremembered Man begins with a miserable childhood.

The place: County Derry, Ireland.
The time: Summer, 1974.
The problem: Loneliness.

Jamie McCloone’s early years in a grim, cruel orphanage have left him wary of people and anxious of change. Now in his early forties, he has no dreams of changing his lonely life as a bachelor farmer until his kind-hearted neighbours, Patrick and Rose, decide he is in need of a wife. Lydia couldn’t be more different to Jamie. Rector’s daughter and proper schoolteacher, she still lives at home, looking after her aged and demanding mother. She dreams constantly of changing her spinsterly fate, but has no idea how to—until a friend suggests she puts an ad in the Lonely Hearts column of the Mid-Ulster Vindicator.

The result is a meeting of absolute opposites: farmer Jamie with his cavalier attitude to personal hygiene and his ignorance of the fairer sex, and Lydia Devine, for whom everything must be folded neatly and laid in its proper place—including her ideal man. (The Toby Press)

I won’t reveal anymore about the plot except to say that there is an unexpected twist at the end. The Misremembered Man is a tragiccomedy and indeed, there is a happy ending. There is already a sequel in the works. A relief because as much as I enjoyed the ending, I have to know what happens next. According to author’s website The Misremembered Man is also being made into a motion picture. Not bad for a first novel. So hurry up and read the book because movies based on books are never as good!