SOURCE: Danziger, Jeff. “Caught between Past and Present in an Irish Landscape.” Christian Science Monitor 85, no. 76 (17 March 1993): 13.

In the following review, Danziger praises Tóibín's humor and skillful characterization in The Heather Blazing.

Colm Tóibín's first novel, The South won the Irish Times/Aer Lingus Irish Literature Award—no small feat in a country with a strong literary heritage. His new novel, The Heather Blazing, gracefully depicts the beauty and loneliness of the Irish experience.

Eamon Redmond, an Irish judge, is trying to make sense of his life. His family was in the fight for Irish independence. They were members of the Fianna Fáil. The old men are described as the last of the old Fenians, the fierce mythological Irish warriors, the same name used by the later group who fought English rule.

But where have these battles brought Eamon? They don't seem to...