Product Description "The Five-senses-world is a small island in a vast ocean of all we do not know and cannot see; in that ocean, there may be faeries."
This second story about the intrepid leprechaun, O'Shaughnessey, takes up where the first left off, that is, with Bobby Mahoney grown and with children of his own.
Having lost the ability to see leprechauns, as it happens to the best of us as we grow up, he takes a trip to Ireland with his daughter, to study folklore and get back something that he knows he's lost if only he could put his finger on what that was.
Twelve year old Margaret McNeil Mahoney will have none of it. She is, after all "the brightest pupil" at the La Madeliene Academy for (Exceptional) young Ladies and has no room in her life for such silliness as leprechauns and faeries.
O'Shaughnessey has persuaded a reclusive Shenache (storyteller) named Moira McCarthy to take the visitors in, hoping that Bobby may eventually be able to see him again.
Moira McCarthy is "Cold-school," as the jarvy who drives the pair to the hilltop farm describes her. "You won't find a drop of petrol on her farm says it stinks of death and nothing that comes from that far in the bowels of the earth can be good for the Gentry. The Gentry, that's what we used to call the faeries, and Moira McCarthy has kept with it."
Moira McCarthy is, in addition to being a Shenache, a guardian of the Invisible World. Many there are who want to have commerce with the faeries and it is she who either allows it or sends them on their way depending on what their motives are. She is suspicious of the visitors until, that is, she is introduced to Margaret. She recognizes in the young girl a kindred spirit with a latent Sight that is greater even than her father's, for once having given up the Second Sight, it never comes back entirely. But Margaret, the "little skeptic" Margaret, she has possibilities.
Reviews:
Confuzzled Shannon (USA: PA) (2020/11/11): Bobby Mahoney, now an adult and father of two. He no longer remembers his childhood escapades with leprechaun O’Shaughnessey. Bobby now living in America but is writing a book about Irish myths and magical beings. He travels back to Ireland with his daughter Maggie. They stay with the storyteller, Moria McCarthy. As Bobby collects his stories from other townspeople young Maggie learns about fairy folk and magic even though she has yet to believe in them. Bobby searching for truth to the mystical world ends up in a predicament and needs O’Shaughnessey and Maggie to save him.
This book is the second book in a series. I did not read the first book, O’Shaughnessey: A Boy And His Leprechaun, and I do not feel like I needed to. I enjoyed it and did not feel lost or that I was missing anything. I really did like these characters especially Maggie and the storyteller Moria. They had the most depth and I was enjoying how much they bonded.
The story did really have a mixture of America and Irish feel to it. I notice with the other books that take place in Ireland always feel so mysterious and magical along with really drawing you into it. I did not feel the draw so much with this book maybe because there was the fact Bobby and Maggie were from America. And in America, it is a place that magic and myth are different or do not exist.
I would like to read the first book. Although I am not sure how much I will like it because I really did like Maggie and Moira. The first one is about Maggie’s father Bobby and O’Shaughnessey. Could be a fun little romp though. I do feel like there should be more reviews and I am surprised how little there are for this series.
