Looking For Cornelius
a novella by Diana Hayes
paperback ISBN: 979-8-3852-5033-2
ebook ISBN: 979-8-3852-5035-6
$21CDN, $15US | 148 pages
To order books, send message click here
or email the publisher: orders@wipfandstock.com
Books can be ordered online at Chapters/Indigo, Amazon (internationally), Bookshop.org (U.S. and U.K), and by special order through your local indie bookshop.
The innate need for family connection and shared cultural traditions is rooted in our biology. This sense of belonging is integral to our survival. The concept of blood memory, where we feel a connection to ancestors and their experiences, is a driving force for Deirdre Ó hAodha, a teacher of traditional Irish music for disadvantaged inner-city children in Montreal. She is preparing her star pupil, Éamon O’Connor, for a scholarship recital at Cork College University. Together they travel from Dublin to County Cork, visiting monastic ruin sites and monuments of ancient Celtic culture and share many stories and synchronicities along the way. Deirdre is on a quest to uncover the story of her Irish Great-Grandfather Cornelius, who escaped Ireland in 1847 at the height of An Gorta Mór, The Great Hunger, and to find out if she has relatives still living in West Cork. She has inherited Cornelius’s gift of second sight which she reveals through visions, intuition, and dreams. The theme of transformation through fire, faith, language, and music surfaces throughout their journey. Through the mists and the thin veil between worlds, Deirdre connects deeply to the land of her ancestors and regains a sense of family and belonging.
Steeped in Celtic mythology and music, and accurate Irish history, particularly of The Great Hunger, spiced with glimpses of the supernatural, Looking for Cornelius, by Diana Hayes is a satisfying story, set mostly in Ireland, of a young woman’s search for her Irish great-grandfather while accompanying her thirteen-year-old fiddle student to compete for a music scholarship in Cork City. The writing is tight and often poetic, the research and descriptions of Irish locations are impeccable, and the plot twists are not foreseeable and so most pleasing. A must—and not only for lovers of Irish stories.
–Patrick Taylor, New York Times, USA Today, and Globe and Mail best-selling author of the Irish Country Doctor series
In Looking for Cornelius, Diana Hayes takes readers through an Irish landscape haunted by stone circles and ancient monastic ruins, lingering at lakes where saints performed miracles. We accompany Deirdre, a music teacher from Montreal, and her student Éamon, a gifted young fiddler, to Cork so that Éamon can audition for a place in a prestigious music program. Both of them are also searching for answers to the old riddles of family and belonging. Threaded through the narrative, phrases of poetry, of folk songs, in Gaeilge and English, serve as both gorgeous soundtrack and field-guide to this rich and lyrical novella. The novella is a special form, providing a meeting place for the intersection of characters and elliptical storytelling; Looking for Cornelius occupies this space beautifully and memorably.
–Theresa Kishkan, author of the novellas The Weight of the Heart
Looking for Cornelius describes fiddle teacher Deirdre and her prize student Eamon‘s journey to Cork, Ireland from Montreal, Canada for Eamon to compete in a fiddle contest. Hayes’ detailed account is filled with tragic stories of Ireland’s past, such as of the life of a young girl named Little Nelly, horrific tales of The Good Shepherd Laundry and also of the Spike Island Prison. These sad parts of Ireland’s history are contrasted with descriptions of the incredible beauty of present-day Ireland. Teacher and student uncover stories about Cornelius, Dierdre’s great grandfather who left Ireland during The Great Hunger for England.
–Celia Meade, author of Anatomy of the World
Diana Hayes’ graceful poetic touch serves this novella well. Haunted by ancestral presence, rich with lore and magic, like the Irish language itself, Looking for Cornelius sings.
–Bill Gaston, author of Tunnel Island
Looking for Cornelius is a wonder-filled journey back to a place in Ireland that we know is absolutely home. Right away, we are in a different kind of book—a slim, powerful, true book that will resonate in each reader’s mind. As a Newfoundlander, it is a treat to read of such a journey. All yarning is ultimately interwoven with the tales that re-emerge like the true rolag of wool that generates all yarns. This poet leaves room for all readers. We discover how to find our own route to where we need to go, and the path to the stories we need to tell.
–Bill Gough, author of Maude’s House
A gorgeous, poignant tale of homecoming told with a keen sense of poetic detail. Diana Hayes takes us on a journey steeped in Celtic lore, lilting music, ghosts of the past, and the heart’s longing for the ancient unknown.
–Rebecca Hendry, author of One Good Thing