Border Crossings

Rating:
Summary: Top rate tale with a deep message
Review:

In 1991, American Kathy O'Faolain loves living in Ireland, the home of her beloved spouse Pearse, a college professor. Kathy enjoys working with troubled teens from both Protestant and Catholic families.. She takes special delight in watching her child Sean as he grows up.

Kathy's idyllic life abruptly ends when an assassin brutally murders Pearse's brother because of his connection to the Sinn Fein. To honor his sibling, Pearse returns to the family home in Enniskillen to take over his deceased brother's efforts. As someone murders other family members, Kathy fears for the lives of her spouse and child from an assailant who will not quit until he eradicates the O'Faolain clan.

BORDER CROSSINGS is an exciting thriller that centers on the message of stopping the insanity of eternal killings in the name of some political order. The story line is crisp, bringing home the Irish question in an alarming but real manner. The O'Faolain clan is a wonderful group, and the villagers and murderer augment the plot with a feel to their dilemmas. Carole Bellacera shows she can combine hatred and love, terror and hope into a very well written tale.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: A triumph! BORDER CROSSINGS is the must-read novel of '99
Review: Carole Bellacera paints a vivid--and riveting--portrait of The Irish Troubles as seen through the lives--and loves--of the O'Faolain clan, Irish Catholics living in British occupied Northern Ireland. Irish afficionados will appreciate Bellacera's careful research and special love for this beautiful, conflict-riddled land. But it's the characters themselves that will grab hold of your heart, not letting go until you've reached the final page.

Deft pacing, multi-dimensional characters, and Bellacera's infallible understanding of the complexities of human relationships make BORDER CROSSINGS the must-read of 1999.

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Gripping Novel!
Review: If you are in the mood for a very gripping read from start to finish, this is the book. I was absolutely fascinated by the story of a husband and wife forced to return to Northern Ireland when his brother is assassinated. The brother was a councilor in the political party that is allied to the illegal IRA, and that is where the hero of this story is supposed to resume his life: in that role. He comes to this as a history professor from Trinity College in Dublin. Bad as this is for him, multiply it by a hundred for his wife and child who have to live in daily fear, violence and hatred after moving in with his solidly IRA supportive family. The mounting crisis becomes whether the wife will be able to continue to bear living in Northern Ireland for either the rest of her life or until whenever her husband is the next assassin's victim. I couldn't put this novel down and am eagerly awaiting mail delivery of her second book, "Spotlight," about an Irish rock star and his IRA wife.