The Arrival of Fergal Flynn

We’ve all read a book or two about a forbidden romance – whether there be an age difference involved, acts of incest, homosexuality, or outsiders’ blatant disagreement with what the love entails. This is a story, a lot like that, with just enough love and drama to pull your heartstrings.

Brian Kennedy’s ‘The Arrival of Fergal Flynn’ is the story of a boy, sixteen going on seventeen, living in 1980s Belfast. He is constantly surrounded by riots, hunger strikes and armed soldiers roaming around the city. That, and his family’s constant abuse, are the easy parts of Fergal’s life. He is, no matter how much he denies it, gay. And he has his eye on the new priest in town.

As a first effort for Brian Kennedy, I must admit this is a great one. Kennedy pulled facts out of his life, such as seeing the brutality in Belfast, and harmonising with emergency vehicles, and put them into Fergal’s story with great skill.

This is going down on the list of my favourite books – not only for the open-minded manner, in which Brian Kennedy portrays homosexuality, but also for the tender plot line, which yanks and pulls at modern conventions.

I must admit, the beginning of the book had me wondering when we’d start learning more about Fergal, and less about his family and their various miseries, which may, or may not have been important at the end. That came soon enough, when we were met with young Fergal’s mother dressing her eccentric son in girls’ dresses, much to his confusion. And the rest of the book had me glued to the pages, throbbing with interest at what would happen next.

I found it very difficult to put down, and ended up spending a whole day on it, but it was a day well spent. It had me switching from emotion to emotion, and really wishing the book wouldn’t end so soon.

Before I even finished it, I went to the computer and placed its sequel – Roman Song – on hold at the library, because I knew I would want to know what happened to Fergal after the final pages of this book.

This is a perfect novel if you’re looking for a love story with touches of unacceptability, and society’s frowns, as well as a hero in various forms of pain. Everybody loves a tender romance, every once in a while, and the brutality of this one makes it so much sweeter in the end.