The Black Prophet: A Tale of Irish Famine

Good story, but WORDY!

(3 stars)

TwinkieToes

This author must have been paid by the word, because aside from maybe Victor Hugo, this is the wordiest story I've encountered in a long time. He never refrains from using a dozen words, when two or three will do. The story itself is a good one; after 20-something years, the solution of an unsolved murder is slowly coming to light. Was it the kind, elderly gentleman who God seems to have stricken with calamity and who seems to be living with a heavy weight? Or was it someone else? Add to this the intrigues of the Black Prophet, the wildness yet kindness of his daughter, Sarah, the almost angelic purity and beauty of Maeve (the niece of the murdered man) who is in love with the son of the man under suspicion of the murder... it all weaves together into a rich tapestry set on the background of the harsh, cruel, unforgiving Irish Famine. The reader did well with all this verbiage, although he pronounces "gaol" and "gaoler" in the typical, incorrect American way. ;)

(3 stars)

GMFerguson

I listened with especial interest as I was born close to the area of which Carlton writes and this recording has whetted my appetite for more of his works. A good yarn, but challenging for any reader unfamiliar with some of the Tyrone dialect and pronunciation.

(5 stars)

Irish listiner

Excellently narrated and an emotional story. Very happy to have listened, thank you.

(2 stars)

44blue

Unbearably bleak. I could not continue... it probably deserves more stars.