The Story Collector

I had no real expectations for The Story Collector (#1,277), but I found the cover appealing, so I picked it up recently at my book club.  I wound up enjoying it thoroughly.

Set in Western Ireland, Evie Woods' novel interweaves two stories of a small village set a hundred years apart.  Lord Hawley chops down a revered hawthorn tree on the acreage he has bought to build a mansion for his bride-to-be.  The villagers try to tell him that no good will come of the place; it will be cursed by the fairy folk.  Events seem to prove them right.

Anne Butler lives in the village a few decades later when an American researcher turns up, looking for stories about local folks' encounters with the fairy folk, and whether or not the belief in them still exists in this remote corner of Ireland.  Anna works as a lace-maker at home, and she knows everyone in the area, so her parents permit her to work as Harold Griffith-Krauss' assistant.  Through their work, Anna meets the heir of Thornwood Hall.

Sarah Harper, on the other hand, is an American who chooses to leave her husband on Christmas Day in 2010 to return to her family in Boston.  At Newark Airport, she wanders into an Irish Gift Shop and buys a ceramic sheep and a bottle of good Irish whiskey.  Imagine her surprise when she wakes after her flight to find that she apparently exchanged her domestic ticket for an Aer Lingus ticket instead!  Now she's at Shannon Airport without even a hotel room to be had.  Fortunately, the airport hotel manager takes pity on her and finds her a cottage for rent in a small near-by village.  Since she has nothing to return home to but the smothering attention of her family, she decides to stay put.  Out exploring, she finds a tin box secreted in the hollow of a tree.  In it is a diary, and Sarah begins to read Anna's story...

Love stories are combined in an interesting way with the Irish beliefs in things beyond our ken.  Highly recommended, especially if you have any Irish ancestry.