John Richard Flanagan

A gem of a book I just discovered in a box of my grandfather's novels. The story of an Irish poet who was blinded by smallpox and roams the environs of Galway with his wife Hilaria.

This is a short book, but the author has an amazing talent for description and drew me right into the lives of the wanderers. Blind Raftery was a pure joy to read.

This is an interesting story of an itinerant harpist in 17th century Ireland, and his meeting with a Spanish woman left in compromising circumstances, with whom he falls in love. Who rescues who in the end is left for the reader to decide. It is filled with atmospheric details of Irish culture and life of that time. Any Eirophile will enjoy it, as did I!