Library at the Edge of the World or Finfarran Peninsula Series
Sometimes we find our way to delightful novels that transport us to fictional communities full of quirky, loveable characters; Felicity Hayes-McCoy’s Library at the Edge of the World (originally published in the UK in 2016) and the four novels that continue the Finfarran Peninsula series (Summer at the Garden Café, UK published 2017; The Mistletoe Matchmaker, 2017; The Transatlantic Book Club, 2019; and The Month of Borrowed Dreams, 2020) offer their reader precisely that. The US and Canadian publication of these books lags their UK releases, thus, the fifth installment in this series—The Month of Borrowed Dreams—comes out this month in North America. It was this newest book that introduced me to the series, but I decided to read them all in publication order before weighing in on the most recent. The Library at the Edge of the World introduces readers to middle-aged Hanna Casey who finds herself living at home with her challenging and brutally honest mother on the fictional Western Irish Finfarran Peninsula. Hanna, the local librarian, must make her own way while picking up the pieces of her life in the aftermath of a failed marriage and her daughter’s coming-of-age to travel the world. The Library at the Edge of the World dives into serious themes from marital infidelity to grief, widowhood to aging parents, but it does so in life-affirming, entirely PG terms which leave the reader loving the many characters who make up life on the Finfarran Peninsula.
Luckily, readers have the opportunity to spend much more time with these characters as Hayes-McCoy has written five books in the series to date. The second novel, Summer at the Garden Café, focuses on four generations of women in Hanna Casey’s family and is as much the story of her great aunt, her mother, Mary, and her daughter, Jazz, as it is her own. As with Library at the Edge of the World, this novel emphasizes the healing power of books and community, and of course, libraries where the two meet.
The third novel, The Mistletoe Matchmaker, shifts the reader’s focus from the Casey clan, to that of the Fitzgeralds, of whom Pat (Mary Casey’s best friend) is the seemingly timid matriarch. Cassie Fitzgerald, Pat’s Toronto-born-and-raised granddaughter, shakes things up in sleepy Lissbeg when she decides to come for an extended visit that marks her first time in Ireland. Like others in previous books, Cassie contemplates the meaning of home and the importance of finding one’s place. The Finfarran Peninsula once again provides a cozy setting full of the diverse cast of characters readers have met and fallen for in previous books. Cassie continues to find her place in the fourth novel, The Transatlantic Book Club. Resuming the focus on Cassie and Pat Fitzgerald, this novel explores the theme of Irish emigrants to the Americas and the families who stayed in the Old Country.
The most recent novel in the series, The Month of Borrowed Dreams, released by Harper Perennial on November 2, 2021, continues to make the Lissbeg Library, with Hanna Casey at its helm, the novel’s center point. The library’s film club provides ample opportunity for the residents of Finfarran Peninsula to reflect upon their own lives and loves. As with the previous four books, this novel is gentle and cozy even as it blends in real life struggles like homelessness, domestic violence, and substance abuse. Also like the other Finfarran Peninsula books, The Month of Borrowed Dreams includes a hefty dose of romance and family drama, but never in bodice-ripping terms.
Each of Felicity Hayes-McCoy’s Finfarran Peninsula books emphasizes the importance of finding one’s place and honoring the value of community and family in each of our lives. These books are perfect for any romantic booklover looking to cozy up with a lighthearted book (or five). As an avid library user myself, I loved the way the library and extensive library services played a significant role in each of these stories. A diverse cast of characters all find their way to themselves and each other via the library system, and their community is all the stronger for it. Finally, I thoroughly enjoyed being transported to the fictional Finfarran Peninsula and walking alongside its humorous inhabitants. If you enjoy uplifting, community-based stories like Doc Martin or All Creatures Great and Small, these books are likely right up your alley.
Bibliography:
Hayes-McCoy, Felicity. The Library on the Edge of the World. Harper: New York, 2017.
— Summer at the Garden Café. Harper: New York, 2018.
—The Mistletoe Matchmaker. Harper: New York, 2019.
—The Transatlantic Book Club. Harper: New York, 2020
—The Month of Borrowed Dreams. Harper: New York, 2021.
