In seventh-century Ireland, a scholar and priest called Artt has a dream telling him to leave the sinful world behind. Taking two monks—young Trian and old Cormac—he rows down the river Shannon in search of an isolated spot on which to found a monastery. Drifting out into the Atlantic, the three men find an impossibly steep, bare island inhabited by tens of thousands of birds, and claim it for God. In such a place, what will survival mean? I recommend this book for those who want a “quieter” book that does deal in basics of human life: belonging, faith, society, brotherhood and what these can truly mean when three people are on their own, separated from the rest of society.

Haven by Emma Donoghue review – a seventh-century Room

a b Anderson, Hephzibah (14 August 2022). "Haven by Emma Donoghue review – religious zeal meets ecological warning in AD600 Ireland". The Guardian . Retrieved 30 August 2022. Canadian books coming out in July we can't wait to read". CBC Books. 7 July 2020 . Retrieved 8 July 2020. In Partnership with St Martin-in-the-Fields. This series of nine lectures is inspired by the words of Martin Luther during the Reformation. Distinguished speakers investigate those things in which we believe deeply – and for which we would be prepared to make a costly stand. Donoghue excels in creating not just a world but a worldview that is far removed from our own. ... a bold, thoughtful novel, whose austerity matches its setting.' - Financial Times I had a really hard time getting into this story. The idea around this book and the concept of 3 religious men and their story intrigued me. This book was too slow, it took to long to get off the ground.

Written in an admirably plain and lucid style, Haven is slow but ultimately moving in its revelation of friendship and human decency.' - Sunday Times This book is slow, boring and (blessedly) short. Maybe there is some parable here that I am missing because I am not religious, but I really didn’t get the point. This was not the right book for me. The men spent their time praying, building things to honor God (but not to live in), fishing, lugging stones and killing birds for food and oil. I was rooting for the birds. Liberty in Chains: The Diaries of Anne Lister (1817-24)" in Breaking the Barriers to Desire (Nottingham: Five Leaves Press, 1995) MyHome.ie (Opens in new window) • Top 1000 • The Gloss (Opens in new window) • Recruit Ireland (Opens in new window) • Irish Times Training (Opens in new window)

Haven by Emma Donoghue review – religious zeal meets

A guest arrives at an Irish monastery. His name is Artt and he is known as a blessed man and scholar. While visiting, he has a dream that he leaves this place with two of the brothers, one young one old, and they row on the river out to the sea and on south until they find an island, the right island, to found their community. He is granted his wish to follow this dream, ask these two brothers to pledge obedience to him and receives needed supplies. Artt will be the Prior with Cormac and Trian as the brothers who pledge fealty. Around the year 600, three men vow to leave the world behind and set out in a small boat for an island their leader has seen in a dream, with only faith to guide them. One could chose to read Haven at face value: the tale of three men guided and misguided by their faith, brought to their knees not by God, but by Mother Nature.

Other Topics

I guess I was hoping this would be more interesting than the blurb made it sound, but I wouldn't recommend it unless hearing every excruciating detail about eking out a religious living on a barren island is your thing. Though this is a text replete with religious fable, it’s in descriptions of the physical world that Donoghue’s prose soars and the narrative’s claustrophobia is alleviated. Likewise, among themes that include isolation and devotion, its ecological warnings are its most resonant. Artt, the novel’s least fully realised character, embodies a calamitous worldview that transcends religion and, largely, culture. Everything on the island, he preaches, has been put there for human use, “like one great banquet table that God’s spread for us”. Before long, they’re using pufflings as fuel, clubbing baby seals, felling the island’s lone tree. All nations beguile themselves with stories, and Ireland has long been susceptible to the warm tingle of mythology. Some cherished beliefs, though, are not only comforting but at least partly true. For instance, during the collapse of the Roman empire, Irish scholars really did salvage much of Europe’s literary heritage. Mind you, this had as much to do with their remoteness and obscurity as their zeal for learning. Despite close shaves with catapult-firing slavers and nights ragged with the howling of wolves, this is a character-driven narrative. Inevitably, tensions surface between the far from equal trio once their “sacred wandering” ends and they reach Skellig Michael. Artt’s insistence that “God will provide” sounds ever more delusional. Cormac, on the other hand, is all about practical matters, sowing seeds in the scant inch of soil the island offers and using stories to ease tensions. As for Trian, along with copying out psalters, he has the task of keeping the brethren in fish and fowl, and he finds himself more and more appalled by how easy it is to plunder the island’s innocent wildlife, flightless auks included. Though this is a text replete with religious fable, it’s in descriptions of the physical world that the prose soars When Artt has a dream, a dream he is sure is a gift from above, a dream so real he can feel it and see it in his mind, he knows he has been chosen for a mission. This mission is so real to him, he requests a blessing of forming a sanctuary.