Kim Honey, 'How a 21st-century Feminist Inhabits the Minds and Lives of Sixth-Century Monks in Haven,' https://www.everythingzoomer.com/zed-book-club/2022/09/28/how-a-21st-century-feminist-inhabits-the-minds-and-lives-of-sixth-century-monks-in-haven/ What a beautiful, intense, blazing, richly-woven yet spartan and unsparing book this is. I couldn’t put it down. Lyrical and then visceral, appearing at one moment tranquil and another so intense it’s like being bitten and clawed.' - Rachel Joyce A vision…An island in the sea. I saw myself there. As if I were a bird or an angel, looking down on the three of us.’

I loved this variation on an immram, an Old Irish tale with a sea journey to the Otherworld, and a hero. A blend of Christianity with Irish mythology. A story of a man looked upon as a holy leader, a man who believes in his vision and insists on others following his way despite the destruction it will bring. A man who seeks to convince others that his is the true and only way, despite the peril to all involved. A parable that explores themes that seem all the more relevant to our times. Six years Trian has been there, living among the monks when he is called upon to ferry this man, Artt, he’d only met the day before. Artt with the ’bearing of a warrior king’ who carries himself as though he is in a constant state of pious appeal. A man who, as a child, sought out a life of divinity at the tender age of seven, and continued to reach for higher understanding until he had outgrown each of the holy men who had shared their wisdom, and traveled throughout Ireland sharing the Gospel on this ’pagan-gripped continent’converting several tribes along the way. I love a strong character-driven novel! As I followed Prior Artt and two fellow monks, old Cormac and young Trian on their quest to found a monastery on a remote island devoid of other people (but a whole lot of birds!), I could understand the monks' initial unquestioning obedience which eventually led to exasperation, anger, depression, fear, and finally, mutiny. Even Prior Artt's ultimate decisions, though frustrating, were believable to his character; Haven was neither of these. It was about the men finding the island and then figuring out how to survive. A timely alllegory ... brooding, dreamlike... Though this is a text replete with religious fable, it’s in descriptions of the physical world that Donoghue’s prose soars and the narrative’s claustrophobia is alleviated. Likewise, among themes that include isolation and devotion, its ecological warnings are its most resonant. ... a flinty kind of hope brightens its satisfying ending.' - The ObserverTrian is the youngest and has been at the monastery since he was thirteen. Always hungry and always clumsy, Trian is the first to volunteer. Cormac has been a convert for fifteen years since the death of his wife and children from the plague. He suffered with the illness but was spared. And Artt is the elusive stranger, scholar, priest who will become their Prior. As a non-believer, I have always marveled at how some “holy” people twist the message of love into a message of disdain for the world and its many varied people they believe God created. To me, we create our personal heaven and hell and diminish ourselves by ignoring our true Garden of Eden – the earth we are fortunate enough to inhabit – through our willful destruction of the planet and its wildlife. Needless to say, this book resonated with me.

Please note, guests who have booked a Haven Hideaway holidaywill nothave access to pools, entertainment venues or activities during their break. I was with an old monk, and a young one….an instruction to withdraw from the world…with two companions, find this island, and found a monastic retreat.’ Written in an admirably plain and lucid style, Haven is slow but ultimately moving in its revelation of friendship and human decency.' - Sunday Times

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Donoghue wrings unlikely psychodrama from such everyday chores of monastic life as copying a manuscript ... rest assured that the devastating denouement amply repays the reader's patience' - Daily Mail Revisits the past in an imaginative way ... a remarkably engrossing tale' - Scottish Mail on Sunday But when the pragmatic Cormac ventures this opinion, he is sternly rebuked. “This place,” Artt declares, “was set aside for us when the Earth was made.” Accepting their lot, the monks clamber ashore. Their master may seem harsh and inscrutable but, for the time being, his authority is unquestionable. Though, by now, we have glimpsed enough of Artt’s nature to guess at what lies before them. When you get to your holiday home it will be sealed – break the seal and you will find your keys inside. This book kept me up half the night - I was unable to put it down, and read it in one spellbound gulp. It is everything a novel should be: compassionate, unpredictable, and questioning. Haven is Donoghue at her strange, unsettling best.' - Maggie O'Farrell