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A Tribute to Oral History There's a point in Frank Delaney's novel, Ireland, when the main character, Ronan, is being grilled by his history professor about his first essay. The professor is appalled that Ronan has used no dates, no footnotes, none of the academic trappings that give history a "scientific" quality. Ronan defends his style by saying simply that he wanted his readers to understand how it felt to live at that time; that that understanding was more important than the knowledge of dates and "facts". This is the wonderful premise of "Ireland". The rich history of the Irish people is ripe for storytelling, and Delaney mines it for all it's worth. If you've ever been to Ireland, you've heard the land hum with the voices of its long gone residents. Delaney puts the focus on the Irish people here as well, and the yarns that he spins are as lively and vibrant as their subjects. The through-line of the book follows Ronan on his quest to find a storyteller who passed through when he was a child. Ronan's mother banished the old wanderer after a story she found to be blasphemous, but Ronan has already been changed by the meeting. He makes storytelling his life's obsession, eventually taking up the study of history at University. Along the way, he collects stories from those he meets, whether they pass along the tales they've heard from the storyteller or their own. His father and aunt join him on this quest, and the relationships are full and very real, particularly between Ronan and his father. The meat of the novel is the stories, however. Delaney has cobbled together a fantastic, mythical history of Ireland, told by a chorus of voices. The legendary events and people of Irish lore are at once bigger than life and very human. Delaney's storyteller is quite skilled at the balancing act between plausible "fact" and blatant blarney. There is even some wonderful discussion of the art of storytelling itself: how to choose your topic depending on your location; how to draw the audience in using a pipe as a prop. It's enough to make me dream of walking the Irish countryside, stopping in here and there and telling a tale or two of my own.