The Cottage at Bantry Bay, by Hilda van Stockum
Publisher: Bethlehem Books
Number of pages: 239

This is the story of the O’Sullivan family from Glengerriff, County Cork, Ireland. Mr. and Mrs. O’Sullivan, Michael and Brigid, Francie and Liam (6-year old twins) are one body with one heart. They live in poverty but have a wonderful spirit of charity. They also find their happiness in simple things.

The children have many adventures, one of them being the discovery in a cove of a treasure consisting of some very old poems. With the money given as a reward for this great finding, the O’Sullivan family is able to take Francie to a doctor in Dublin in order to have his foot fixed. An interesting character in the book is Paddy the Piper. He is a bard, "someone who keeps the love of Ireland warm in the hearts of her people." Irish Catholics suffered 800 years of religious persecution at the hands of the English. Poets were a big factor in keeping the Faith alive (of uprising in 1916). Paddy gives his songs and makes everyone happy.

• We see a united family whose members love each other.
• The O’Sullivans live their Catholic Faith (for instance, they attend Mass, p. 118)
• Other families show kindness, such as the Flynns (p. 41-46) or the O’Flaherty (chapter 8)
• The reader is introduced to the world of Irish culture (fairies, etc.) and admires their perseverance in the Faith.
• Paddy is the happiest person in the book and at the same time he is the poorest. "Money is of no use to me. It won’t buy me the things I care for. …the swell of the sea and the sight of the gulls on the wing, the sweep of a road in front of me, the friendly faces greeting me at cottage doors, the kindness of the stars at night, and the wet nose of a dog pressed in me hand…Money won’t buy me the look in a mother’s eye when she watches her child, nor will it make me flute play faster or me blood run stronger in me veins…" (p, 236)

Cautions: None.