The Moon Over Kilmore Quay

Carmel Harrington certainly knows how to entertain a reader! I fell in love with this book immediately and have been continuously adjusting my reading path while literally devouring page after page.
I did pick up a few hints and I might have guessed a thing or two, but never had I thought that ( no spoilers here) ... 'Oh no way!'. Plot twist. When you thought you'd finally 'got it', no time to recover , bam! another plot twist (and don't think you're finished. The best is saved for last. She palys with the reader until the very last chapters. Again, no spoilers, but I hadn't seen that coming).
Brilliant. Marvellous. Amazing.
How come I didn't know this author? I have to thank Harper Collins UK for their invite to view this book an Netgalley. It goes straight to my top ten reads of this year. I'll definitely be reading more from this author. Very recommended.
I received an early copy from Harper Collins UK, Harper Fiction, via Netgalley, with many thanks to the publisher, the author and Netgalley.

What a beautiful read, a lovely book to escape into. A love story with a few twists as well as touching on Irish Immigration to America. A book that will stay with me for a long time.

Wow wow wow. What a gorgeous beautiful book. The characters of Lucy and Bea are so likeable and credible. You fall in love with them and get so invested in their story. I dont want to give away any spoilers but I will say their stories will stay with me for a long time to come.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an early review copy.

Hearing stories of home, and having grown up in the Irish community, Bea then finds a letter, one she wrote when younger, and it takes her into her family history. her younger self, written years before, it sends her deep into her own family history.

We’re then taken years back to the time when , Lucy left her home and family, to travel to New York. She finds The Big Apple a whole different world to what she’d grown up in, a quiet village, and she longs to be back there.

Upon discovering a secret, now Bea is back in Kilmore Quay. Here, long kept truths are brought to light, but it seems that’s not the end for Bea as fate has one last twist in store…..

Highly recommend this.

With grateful thanks to netgalley and Carmel Harrington for an arc in return for an honest opinion.
Having read all of this authors other works I was delighted to receive an early copy.
This has to be the most outstandingly beautiful book I've read in 2021.
I want to give nothing away 2 sisters Maeve and Lucy and
friend Michelle, growing up on the East Coast of Ireland mix in new York city add a handsome guy named Ryan and add a few years and along come Bea Stephanie Beatrice and Dan a new generation but everything is intertwined in more ways than one, the ups and downs the life of 1st and 2nd generation irish living in New York this is a seriously gripping book I've cried big fat tears more than once I have no words to say apart from it really is❤❤
A FULL-THROTTLE TRUMPET-TOOTING EXTRAVAGANZA.

Great story with an unexpected ending. Bea lives in the basement apartment of the New York house she grew up in. Her father lives in the main part of the house. They're a proudly Irish-America family, but they've never been back to visit Kilmore Bay, where she grew up. Then Bea gets the chance and takes it. Her father refuses, for reasons which become clear later. Bea has recently broken up with her boyfriend, Dan, which her friends can't understand as they were so loving. The story flashes between Bea's story and that of Lucy, emigrating to New York from Ireland in the 1990s with her sister, Maeve. In the meantime, mysterious things seem to happen to Bea. At the start, I thought this would be just another story of migration to the US, but it's much more than that. Loved it!

Bea has grown up in Brooklyn amongst the Irish community and listening to stories of home in Ireland. She discovers, in a time capsule, a letter from her younger self, it starts a series of events.
Years before, Lucy left Ireland to seek out a new life in America.
Bea discovers a secret which will take her back to Ireland to uncover long buried truths but fate has one last surprise for Bea.

Lovely Lovely story.a book of immigration a story that drew me right in.The story of Bea&Lucy and kept me turning the pages enjoying their story.Abook Inwill be recommending.#netgalley #harpercollinsuk

To be honest I don't even know how to start writing this review, in fact I have left it for a couple of days to digest the book.

Being of Irish descent myself through my grandparents, any book like this always peaks my interest, and when I noticed the family name O'Connor which is also mine, I was even more intrigued. This book is not at all what I expected, and I have to say on reading probably the first part of the story with present day character Bea, I wasn't all that invested. Still reeling from the death of her mother years before, Bea longs to know what she was like and is always looking for a connection to her. Brought up by a strong Irish/American family she has never wanted for love or family. I found her a bit annoying at times and spoilt. A letter from her old school arrives and send Bea into her past re-evaluating mistakes she made and things she has done.

On the back of this we are following the story of Lucy and her Sister Maeve from Kilmore Quay, Ireland. They travel over to New York to start a new life. Maeve is confident and vivacious whilst her sister Lucy is quieter and longs for her old life back in Ireland, I felt an instant connection to Lucy and was swept along in her romance with Ryan.

Then the twists just keep coming, which I did not see all. By the end of the book I was an emotional wreck, ugly crying and everything!This book took me on an emotional roller coaster ride and it will be something that comes back into my head from time to time I am sure. And I will definitely look out for the author again.

Thank you to Netgalley and HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Moon over Kilmore Quay is about two sisters Maeve and Lucy growing up in Wexford Ireland with their friend Michelle. They are all so close and the best of friends, that they all decide to immigrate to New York city to start a new life. At first their family that they are leaving behind don’t want the to go but then understand that they are young and want more than living in the small town.
When they get there Lucy meets Ryan and from then on thinks he is the love of her life.
The other half of the story is years later meet Beatrice and Stephanie and Dan. Both their story intertwines further along the book.
This Moon Over Kilmore Quay is a beautiful written story of friendship, family love and Loss. It also tells us of the history of the Irish and for a better life they immigrated to New York to make something of themselves. This is a heart-warming and emotional story with I really enjoyed

What an exceptionally written and heartwarming novel.
The book is set in two places Brooklyn New York and Kilmore Quay in Ireland.
What Carmel has achieved in this book is utterly amazing.
When Bea finds a letter that she had written many years before as a young woman she knows it's time to revisit her past and return home to Kilmore Quay and leave Brooklyn behind but can she really face what is waiting for her?

This is the first book I read by Carmel Harrington and I absolutely loved it! It started quite slow but I enjoyed the descriptions of Ireland and of New York, the relationships between the characters back in 1992 and in the present time. I really felt like I was part of it. The story "back then" unfolded and I started feeling teary until I literally bawled my eyes out at the end. I loved all the characters, both from the past and from the present and I would have loved the book to be longer and to spend more time with them all. That story will stay stuck in my head for a while, one of the best books I've read this year.

Thank you to the publisher who kindly offered me an e-copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.