Haven

Product Information

He dreamed of escaping the society of fallen men, monks who wore embroidered clothing and feasted on roast swan and wine.

Haven by Emma Donoghue book review - The Washington Post

As the narrative unspools, Cormac — a garrulous storyteller, to Artt’s silence-loving displeasure — is forever telling young Trian tales of the saints, and as they occur so often, they honestly began to feel like filler. The Diocese of Gloucester is looking for two creative, flexible and holistic thinkers who care passionately about nurturing leaders who will share the good news of Jesus Christ and make disciples in all our varied contexts. 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.There is a lot of scripture and beautiful psalms and hymns to lull one to their journey, but, alas it is not without peril on so many levels.

Emma Donoghue books and biography | Waterstones Emma Donoghue books and biography | Waterstones

And now, in Haven, she once again holds eager readers in her sway – this time, in seventh-century Ireland in the isolated and rocky spot now known as Skellig Michael. From the moment the sewn-leather river craft departs, minus the two chosen monks’ essential provisions, the author creates a tension between the humble followers of Christ and their leader.

A story of survival set in 600 AD Ireland; a parable of patriarchy, destruction and religion at sea, by Emma Donoghue, the bestselling author of Room. As in her hit bestseller, Room, Donoghue's powers of description expand small, confined spaces until they contain worlds of universal depth. If only there were marks between the words, to keep them apart — dots, or spaces even — these would make copying so much easier. Donoghue wrings unlikely psychodrama from such everyday chores of monastic life as copying a manuscript . A man who, as a child, sought out a life of divinity at the tender age of seven, and continued to reach for higher understanding until he had outgrown each of the holy men who had shared their wisdom, and traveled throughout Ireland sharing the Gospel on this ’pagan-gripped continent’converting several tribes along the way.

Haven - Emma Donoghue Haven - Emma Donoghue

If the setting is centuries ago, the themes of her book feel ultra-modern, though to say too much about this would amount to a plot spoiler. Drifting out into the Atlantic, they find an impossibly steep, bare rock inhabited by tens of thousands of birds, and claim it for God. Trian speculates about man’s place in the world as opposed to the birds and fish he seeks for dinner and how God separates all.

And it is the vow of obedience — to a self-aggrandising fanatic — that will lead to hunger, exposure, and suppressed dissent; all for the glory of God (or at least for His representative on Earth). Skellig Michael, she notes, is now at risk from tourism and extreme weather unleashed by the climate crisis.