The Servants and Other Strange Stories by John O’Donoghue

Book Review

martin willoughby

Strange, certainly. Compelling, utterly.

An excellently written set of short stories that draw you in, then slap you about a bit.

The nine stories cover a range of genres. There are a couple of ghost stories, an SF one set in the near-ish future and some contemporary/historical ones. All are well-written with beautifully drawn backgrounds and show an imaginative approach to storytelling.

The first seven stories range from a few to several pages, while the last two are almost novella-size but have enough natural gaps that you can catch your breath while you wonder what’s going to happen next.

In one of the early stories, a young woman goes to an exhibition where portraits seem to show her life and then feels compelled to go into another room, while another is a short story that goes round and round in a never-ending loop.

There’s a sexual encounter that goes horribly wrong in Keat’s house, and some leprechauns seek asylum.

The last two stories at the end of part one are longer. One is historical, set in Ireland during the famine. This one is a hard read, especially towards the end, as Maeve has to make a decision about her child that no mother should have to make.

Initially, Maeve goes to live with a playwright named Trelawny, who lives in Holloway, London. For me, this was spooky as the address given, St John’s Way, lies at the bottom of the road where I was born and lived. There, she meets Michael, who is bound for the priesthood.

Things happen, and she has to return to her aunt as she is pregnant, where all hell lets loose as the famine begins.

The last of these shorter stories concerns a murder set amongst the Sidhe in Ireland. I’ll let you find out about that one for yourselves.

The final two stories are ‘The Servants’ and ‘The Islanders’.

In the first of these, we meet the descendent of Asimov’s robotics expert, Susan Calvin.

A robot gardener named Seamus works at a nunnery and decides he wants to become a priest. Those of us who enjoyed the Foundation series of novels will find a lot of similarities here and some familiar characters, all told from an Irish perspective. It covers 100 years or so and deserves to be the headline story in the collection, with an ending that I think is worthy of Asimov.

The final story is one that can easily be listed as strange.

After a boat disaster, the only survivor makes his way to the island of Inishraam off Ireland, nearly dying in the cold waters. There, he is nursed to health by a small group of islanders who have a very strange past and an uncertain future.

As the story unfolds, we discover more about these islanders, their festivals and their lives. Finally, we discover their origins, which will take the reader by surprise but is wholly believable. The survivor’s reason for being in the area is also revealed, and this brings neat closure to the tale.

This is an impressive collection of well-written stories, and many will stay with you as the intricacies of their tales leave you with thoughts about the lives we have led, those we live now and the paths we could follow in the future.