Nuala O'Faolain: My Dream of You

By LINDA HERRICK

Despite its awful soap-opera title and wussy cover, Irish Times' veteran columnist O'Faolain's fictional debut is a masterly work (O'Faolain's autobiography Are You Somebody was a bestseller both sides of the Atlantic).

Told mainly in the first-person by London-based Irish travel writer Kathleen de Burca, the narrative flicks between her hollow contemporary life and her recreation in print of a devastating historical event which really did happen in Ireland in the 1840s: the Talbot Judgment.

Kathleen, who has long abandoned her Irish family for reasons that are revealed gradually, is approaching 50 and has a sexual history some might describe as promiscuous, others as lonely. When her best friend dies, Kathleen returns to Ireland to research the court case about an alleged affair between an English landlord's wife and their Irish groom during the Famine.

While going back into the past, she is forced to deal with her own long-buried crises, as well as what may be her last grand passion.

Such a superficial plot outline makes My Dream Of You sound a little cliched and precious, but it's not. Kathleen is a gutsy character on a constant, recognisable wobble between optimism and despair.

O'Faolain manages the transitions from present to past with ease, and the urge to keep ploughing through the book's 400-plus pages to find out what happens to the fascinating cast is virtually irresistible.

Don't be put off by the cover. Highly recommended.

* Penguin Books $26.95

* Linda Herrick is the Herald's arts editor.