Reviews

• Dark but humorous, witty and creative prose.

  I thoroughly enjoyed The Herbalist. It had been sitting on my Kindle for several months. I had read a few pages but wasn’t in the right mood or couldn’t get into it at first. Then one day I began reading it again and soon became totally immersed in the setting and the story. I can clearly imagine how an exotic character like the Herbalist would have repelled and attracted the locals in a small town in Ireland, or anywhere for that matter, a mere few decades ago. That’s the part that seemed incongruous to me i.e. the fact that a man like him would have chosen to live in a midlands town in Ireland back in the 1930’s. When a book really interests me I want to find out as much as I can about the spark that ignited the idea for the story. I discovered that the author had found a small newspaper cutting while working on the archives of a local library (if my memory serves me correctly). The cutting reported on the trial of a man with an exotic sounding name who was accused of duping the locals with his treatments and herbal potions, or something to that effect. Fiction is fiction and if you want to immerse yourself into a story and enjoy it without every detail having to be perfectly authentic, this might be the book for you. I know Irish life, I grew up there and I was able to roll with the story. Human nature being what it is, people gossip and people tend to go with the crowd. You’re either loved by many, tolerated or shunned. Boredom and lack of stimulation can make people behave strangely. Even in the sixties, Ireland was a country run by clerics; women were repressed and had little freedom, and this is all brought home in this dark but entertaining story. My favourite character was Aggie, although I don’t seriously think a character like her would have been tolerated in any small town in Ireland, and she certainly wouldn’t have been having parties on her houseboat. Forgive me if I’m wrong on that score. Never mind, we can suspend belief and just enjoy the ride. Yes, the author did use her unique style, switching characters and point of view and zooming in and out of scenes. But I genuinely loved her language, her creativity and her humour at times. I’ve marked a few examples here: It reminded her of when the thread ended on the spool and the needle ran on regardless, puncturing seed holes of light. I was growing myself some women’s intuition. There was a lot wrong with her face: a wide mouth, a chin an inch too long, flared nostrils. And yet ... she was perfectly lovely. Grettie would have had Mass said for a splinter in her finger. I struggled into the fur – it was soft as sin. Ned had a dusty old job sweeping the roads but was always neat as a pin. Rose was lying on the ground for anyone to see, all lonely under the moon. Was I to live like a shunned sow, like the Carver sisters in their flour-bag dresses… …it was a low-class thing. Low-class things are so exciting. Low class, my arse… Okay, that’s enough. You get the picture. I’m very glad I returned to this book. It was a marvellous read. Dark yes, but amusing too. I look forward to reading more from this author.

• unbelievable read!

  Really loved this book!! A very nice insight into what Ireland was like back then, the claustrophobia of it all.... I also really liked the characters, especially the main character. Really looking forward to what Niamh releases next. Well done Niamh x

• A real page turner

  I loved everything about this book so much so I struggled to put it down. It was a simple story with many twist and turns that the writer kept you on the edge of your seat right up to the very end. A very accurate depicition of life for women of different social classes in a small Irish community back in the 1930s. The writer use of the English language to convey certain points has also got to be praised. I would highlightly recommend this book particularly for putting in your bag for a weekend away or reading on a long haul flight

• Well written and researched first book

  Definitely a 4 star read. Well written, researched. Characters that are well defined and can be easily visualised by the reader. The story is fairly unique and compelling. Would recommend to a friend.

• A Lively Debut

  Niamh Boyce's debut novel, The Herbalist, is an easy-to-read work filled with lively characters. It grabbed me from the first page and kept me interested through the last. The lives and stories of four women intertwine in 1930s Ireland when a mysterious foreign man arrives in town and makes them begin to question their beliefs, their society and who they are. Although the book is titled for this visitor, the narrative belongs firmly to the women. It is refreshing to read a novel about this time period filled with complex, strong and deeply flawed women. Boyce's plot does not get bogged down by the bigger questions, the all-present Church or the looming Magdalene Laundries, instead, she allows the women's voices to drive the narrative. The reader is quickly drawn into their world, which is uncomfortable and very real. There are some interesting magical realism threads with imagery of birds, that could have been more fully developed. These begin to create an interesting tension that could have been drawn through the different narratives and added another layer to the narrative. A flushing out of these ideas might also have made one of the main characters more sympathetic. Sometimes the subplots seem sprawling, reaching to other towns and extended familial relationships. Just before they become unwieldy, however, Boyce reigns them in and brings the story back to its heart. Overall, The Herbalist is an excellent debut with compelling characters and a perspective on Ireland that resists the stereotypes of Ballykissangel and other bucolic whitewashing efforts. I, for one, look forward to more from Boyce.

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