The Promise of Light

Determined to learn the truth about his family, Irish immigrant's son Ben Sheridan sets sail for Ireland and becomes involved in a struggle between soldiers of the newly formed Irish Republican Army and the savage British troops. 15,000 first printing. $15,000 ad/promo.

YA-- In 1921, Ben Sheridan graduates from college with the promise of a comfortable future as a New England banker, but a different fate awaits him. When his widowed father is seriously injured, a blood transfusion from Ben poisons the man, revealing that Arthur Sheridan is not his biological father. This knowledge, plus a promise to spread Arthur's ashes in his Irish homeland, plunges Ben into a complex, political struggle. He fears that he will never leave Ireland alive, let alone discover the identity of his natural father, who obviously is a critical leader in the IRA. The simple, bold style sliced with frequent, sharp metaphors cuts through any naive or idealistic conceptions readers might have about the effects of civil war. Flesh-and-blood people on both sides are afraid, driven, and engulfed. Watkins provides a powerfully maturing step into a few days of war that promises to last much longer for Ben Sheridan and in the memory of readers.
- Jessica Lahr, Edison High School, Fairfax County, VA
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Further confirming his literary talent, versatility and skill for adventure writing of a high order, Watkins ( In the Blue Light of African Dreams ) shows a mature grasp of his craft in this stunning odyssey of a young man's coming-of-age under brutal circumstances. In 1921, flush with his new job as a banker, young Ben Sheridan returns to his home on Jamestown Island off Rhode Island in time to see a spectacular conflagration in which his father, the island's fire chief, is injured. A routine blood transfusion results in tragedy: his father is poisoned by Ben's blood, and dies leaving a mysterious message and indisputable evidence that Ben is not his real child. With the help of the parish priest, Ben goes to Ireland to try to solve the riddle of his real paternity. From the moment he arrives in the country village of Lahinch he is thrust into the merciless battle between the IRA forces and the British Tans, a bloody war of attrition that leads to a series of suspenseful confrontations in which Ben is involved. Though at first he feels trapped, Ben soon realizes that he is bound by loyalty and by ironic circumstance to these hard-pressed, desperate people. Watkins spins his beautifully researched story in compact, tensile and metaphorically charged prose, vivid with images that tie the protagonist's psychological perceptions with the natural world. The portrayal of the brutal realities of the Irish fight for independence is unflinchingly honest and powerful, electrified by scenes of hand-to-hand combat whose veracity leaps from the page through small details and psychological insights. The behavior of ordinary villagers--some turned secret, heroic soldiers, some cooperating with the enemy--is underscored both by the futility of the long struggle and by its necessity. The only flaw in this remarkable novel is a series of scenes in Rhode Island at the time of Ben's father's death. Here the plotting and the dialogue ring false--a curious lapse in an otherwise impeccable narrative. The reader is urged to read those 50-odd pages with a suspension of judgment; once they are past, the novel hurtles along with jolting surprises and a breathtaking immediacy.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In this remarkable novel of discovery, set in the 1920s, Ben Sheridan journeys from America to Ireland, from detachment to involvement, from ignorance to knowledge. He is ready to settle into a secure banking job after college, but his expectation of a predictable middle-class future is interrupted by a family crisis requiring him to make what he expects to be a relatively short and simple voyage to the Irish village his father left when Ben was born. Unfortunately, his arrival coincides with the start of IRA hostilities, making it safer for him to lie about his business--the first misstep leading into a quicksand of deceit. Watkins produces a clear narrative of increasing tension and violence that steadily draws in the reader, just as Ben is drawn toward his wholly unforeseen destiny. An unusual but satisfying adventure told with understated calm that belies the real horror and tension.
- Ann Donovan, St. Petersburg Junior Coll. Lib., Fla.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.