OUR LOVE WAS ON THE WING: FROM ATHENRY TO BOTANY BAY
By Jim Carey and Mizpah Closkey
Reviewed by Br Brian Grenier CFC
THE Irish folk ballad, “The Fields of Athenry” (words and music by Pete St John), is set during the Great Irish Famine (1845-50).
A popular anthem for Irish sporting enthusiasts, it laments the plight of a fictional character called Michael (Mícheál in Gaelic) who, leaving his wife Mary and their child behind, was transported to Botany Bay.
As indicated in the lyrics which introduce the text, his “crime” was stealing food from an unfeeling British civil servant to support his starving family.
Musing on the possible outcome of such a tragedy and transposing it to a somewhat earlier period, Brother Regis Hickey (writing as Jim Healy) has exercised his literary skills and creative imagination to fashion the story of the years that followed in the lives of Michael, Mary and their son. In this task he has been ably supported by the considerable talent of his co-author Mary Murphy (writing as Mizpah Closkey).
In the reviewer’s judgment, their book, “Our Love Was on the Wing: From Athenry to Botany Bay”, compares favourably with some of our best Australian historical novels.
It would do readers a disservice to reveal details of the plot.
Suffice it to say that the book, which is enhanced by John Hallett’s fine cover design, is well written, suspenseful and nicely developed both as regards the storyline and the portrayal of the principal characters.
It is also informative inasmuch as it captures the social milieu and the mores of a chapter in our colonial history and the part played in it by such people as John and Elizabeth Macarthur, the bullying Reverend Samuel Marsden, the irascible Captain William Bligh, and Lachlan and Elizabeth Macquarie. Regis Hickey is not the first Christian Brother to write a romantic novel.
That honour belongs to his Irish confrere Gerald Joseph Griffin (1803-40), author of The Collegians.
I can warmly recommend both novels, each of which, in popular parlance, may be labelled a good read or a page-turner.
To great acclaim, the playwright Dion Boucicault adapted Griffin’s work (also based on a trial) for the stage. “Our Love Was on the Wing” calls for similar treatment as a stage production or as a film.
Until that happens I can only urge the readers of this review to add it to the “must read” list. Copies are available for $20 (includes postage) from: Br Regis Hickey, “Viridian”, 205/2141 Sandgate Road, Boondall 4034.
