The Canal Bridge: A Novel of Ireland, Love, and the First World War

(Hardback)

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Description

In 1913, before there is a rumor of war in Europe, two lifelong friends from Ballyrannel in the Irish midlands, Matthias Matt Wrenn and Con Hatchel, decide to see the world at the expense of the king of England and join the British army. A year later, while en route to India, their troop ship is recalled and they find themselves in the slaughterhouse that was World War I. As stretcher bearers, the two men witness the horrors of the battlefield and the waste of human life at the Somme, Ypres, and Passchendaele. Meanwhile, back home in Ireland, Cons sister and Matts lover, Kitty Hatchel, yearns for their safe return and reminds them of their carefree childhood on the banks of the local canal, as well as their hopes for the future.
Brilliantly and movingly narrated as a chorus of voices from the communityMatt, Con, Kitty, and othersThe Canal Bridge tells the story of how the young men take Ballyrannel to war with them, and the many ways they bring the wars devastation home. At wars end, the Ireland the friends left in 1913 no longer exists, for the Rising against the British in 1916 has changed everything. In a land now riven with sectarian tensions and mounting bloodshed unfolds the love story of Matt and Kitty.
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Reviews

Tom Phelan's The Canal Bridge is the best novel of love in the time of war since Cold Mountain. It is an old-fashioned story in the very best sense: dramatic, passionate, unpredictable, gorgeously written, heartbreakingly true, ultimately ennobling. This is truly a great book. I loved every page. Howard Frank Mosher, author of Walking to Gatlinburg

The Canal Bridge is a tour de force of writing, passionate, moving, and brilliant. Here is World War I in all its madness, and its terrible humanity. Kevin Baker, author of The Big Crowd

There is no false bravado in Phelans riveting, unsparing account, no sentimentality, no hollow heroes, no hyper-patriotic blather. Phelans characters live and breathe and bleed. Phelans fiction is the real thing. The Canal Bridge is a classic. Peter Quinn, author of The Banished Children of Eve and Dry Bones

Effectively constructed and emotionally honest . . . the reader gains a new perspective on how the Great War decimated lives throughout Europe.
Booklist, starred review

Masterful . . . Must be ranked among the most successful novels dealing with the First World War. Irish Emigrant

Phelan is a marvelous storyteller. Dont miss out on a great contemporary author. Irish Eyes (Paris)

Powerful and deeply affecting. Books Ireland

Incredibly moving story . . . The writing is consistently stunning. Irish Echo

The Canal Bridge sings and weeps . . . Thrilling. Celtic Connection
Tom Phelan's The Canal Bridge is the best novel of love in the time of war since Cold Mountain. It is an old-fashioned story in the very best sense: dramatic, passionate, unpredictable, gorgeously written, heartbreakingly true, ultimately ennobling. This is truly a great book. I loved every page. Howard Frank Mosher, author of Walking to Gatlinburg

The Canal Bridge is a tour de force of writing, passionate, moving, and brilliant. Here is World War I in all its madness, and its terrible humanity. Kevin Baker, author of The Big Crowd

There is no false bravado in Phelans riveting, unsparing account, no sentimentality, no hollow heroes, no hyper-patriotic blather. Phelans characters live and breathe and bleed. Phelans fiction is the real thing. The Canal Bridge is a classic. Peter Quinn, author of The Banished Children of Eve and Dry Bones

Effectively constructed and emotionally honest . . . the reader gains a new perspective on how the Great War decimated lives throughout Europe.
Booklist, starred review

Masterful . . . Must be ranked among the most successful novels dealing with the First World War. Irish Emigrant

Phelan is a marvelous storyteller. Dont miss out on a great contemporary author. Irish Eyes (Paris)

Powerful and deeply affecting. Books Ireland

Incredibly moving story . . . The writing is consistently stunning. Irish Echo

The Canal Bridge sings and weeps . . . Thrilling. Celtic Connection

Author Bio

Tom Phelan: was born and raised on a farm in County Laois, Ireland. His first novel was published to critical acclaim when he was fifty. His novels include In the Season of the Daisies, Iscariot, Derrycloney, and Nailer. He now lives in New York.