Frank Delaney is as good a reader as he is a writer: rare and wonderful. ( )

Venetia Kelly's Traveling Show: A Novel of Ireland
by Frank Delaney
Audio book narrated by author.
3-1/2*

Whew! Although I could sit and listen to Frank Delaney speak all day long--he is as eloquent as claimed and has a truly beautiful voice--I've got to admit I needed patience to get through his book. The underlying story told by Ben MacCarthy about how he and his father first met Venetia Kelly after watching her perform at a traveling carnival and the upheaval in their lives that meeting caused, is absorbing and causes all kinds of emotions to come to the surface: shock, anger, disappointment, humor, happiness, horror, sadness, exhaustion. That story is enthralling and is the heart of this book. Ben himself is telling us as a mature man what happened to their family back when he was 18.

The difficulty for me is that Ben is telling his story as any good Irish storyteller will do, in a roundabout way and in his own good time. I need to work on my patience, I guess. All the side stories he told were interesting in themselves and a lot of them curved back around to be useful additions to the main story. Listening to them, however, seemed to take FOREVER when I just wanted him to get to the point already. My problem, I know. It's a great story with several surprising twists and turns. After all was said and done, however, I was hoping for a more finite ending, at least as far as a resolution of some of the characters' fates.

I really enjoyed hearing Delaney narrate his own book. It was fun to hear him speak in different voices for each of the characters, especially Ben's stuttering father. It was natural and excellent. I've got a couple of Delaney's other books on my shelf. I think I might also get them in audio and perhaps read them both simultaneously, at least for the first 50 pages or so until a flow is formed. From there I may just use the audio version if he is again narrating his own. He's worth a listen. ( )

In literature, foreshadowing means to give an indication early in a story about things that will happen latter on. I usually react negatively when an author hints at how the story will turn out. I'd much rather just follow the story and see for myself what happens.

My main complaint with Frank Delaney's 2010 novel "Venetia Kelly's Traveling Show" is not just that Delaney foreshadows future developments in the story but that he does it again and again and again. He repeatedly gives clues about will happen later and even tells us ahead of time who the good characters and bad characters are before he even begins to develop them as characters. He doesn't give away every surprise, but far too many of them.

Despite this annoying storytelling technique, Delaney's novel is actually quite a pleasure to read. The story takes place mostly in Ireland early in the 20th century. It's a big, sweeping tale, but the essential plot is this:

The father of an 18-year-old farm boy becomes smitten by Venetia Kelly, a beautiful actress touring the countryside with a show that includes Shakespeare, acrobatics and ventriloquism. The man leaves his farm, wife and son to join the show so he can be near Venetia. His wife sends their son, Ben, to bring his father back, but Ben falls in love with Venetia, too, and she with him.

Meanwhile, Venetia's grandfather, King Kelly, is a dishonest politician and wheeler-dealer who has designs both on Ben's family's farm and on control of the Irish government.

While telling his story, Delaney tells us a lot about rural Irish life and about Irish politics during that period. It's a good story, well told -- except for all that annoying foreshadowing. ( )

Every time I finished a Frank Delaney book, I declare it his "best yet!" And again I must say that Delaney has again spun a marvelous tale, this one better than the last. Really. In this, Delaney's tale of Venetia Kelly, he delves deep into his characters and folds their lives into the politics of the early 20th century that was a day-to-day part of Irish life. Fast paced, full of mystery and twists in the story's telling of characters so very human, good and very, very bad too. ( )

Venetia Kelly may be the title character of Frank Delaney’s latest novel of historical Ireland, but the book is very much the story of Ben McCarthy, a coming-of-age story about a young man sent on a near impossible quest by his mother. Ben’s father, a farmer, has become enthralled by an actress in a traveling theater troupe, and has abandoned his family. His mother sends 18-year-old Ben to bring his father home – and Ben finds himself drawn into Venetia’s world just as deeply as his father.

When Venetia’s grandfather, King Kelly, comes to rent the cottage on Ben’s family’s property, Ben quickly comes to suspect that there is much more afoot than his father simply having a fling. Ben’s quest is played out against the backdrop of Irish politics, always a tangled and intriguing topic. Ben tells the story in the first person, with many digressions (his own word) from the storyline, digressions filled with politics, folklore, and faerie stories.

Delaney has the gift of storytelling, as well as the gift of writing – not necessarily the same thing. Not only can he spin a wonderful yarn, but he puts words together in a beautiful way. I loved the character of Ben, and Delaney does a fantastic job of showing how Ben matures, grows, and changes over the course of searching for his father and meeting Venetia. As he tells his story, he also tells us the things he has learned about people and life – these “digressions” are full of wisdom and insight. Ben’s entire life story is changed because of his father’s decision to leave his family, and the changes resonate down through the years. Venetia’s beauty and charm were enough to draw everyone around her into her thrall, and even many years later, as Ben tells us his story, he is still under her spell.

This novel is fine historical fiction, especially for anyone as fascinated by Irish history and storytelling as I am. Highly recommended. ( )