Melody Carlson, Note from a Spinning Planet – Ireland

Note from a Spinning Planet - Ireland

Melody Carlson

WaterBrook, November 2006, $12.99

ISBN: 1400071445

Madison Chase spent her first nineteen years of life on a farm, so she is naive about the world. Thus, when her Aunt Sid, a reporter investigating Catholic-Protestant peace camps, invites her to tour Ireland with her, she accepts with trepidation that her lack of sophistication will show, especially to her worship exciting relative.

On the trek, the godson of her aunt, Ryan McIntire accompanies them. Melody is attracted to him from the start, especially romanticizing his family's deep involvement with the IRA. However, as Madison places her aunt and Ryan on a pedestal, she begins to see cracks in their armor, though her adulation could prove dangerous for one and all when she follows in Sid's footsteps, by investigating what happened four years ago when a bomb killed Ryan's dad, because someone wants the truth to remain buried.

Fans will believe that they are accompanying Aunt Sid on her trek through Ireland, as Melody Carson paints a vivid background that has the senses activated. The story targets a young adult audience, but all readers will appreciate this coming of age story, as the young heroine begins to see the flaws in her aunt and Ryan, but humanizing them makes her love for them so much more. The intrigue involving the death of Ryan's dad augments a novel from a spinning planet - Ireland.