Spotlight: Breda’s Island

One of my favorite places in the world is the Dingle Peninsula in Ireland. (Yes, funny name that my kid can’t stop giggling about!) It’s a gorgeous gem with green hills and lots of sheep. The towns are dotted with houses painted in cheerful colors and flower boxes full of blooms. The smell of the ocean is everywhere, and I found the fishing nets as beautiful as the coveted hand-woven sweaters.

I was delighted to discover a middle-grade book set in Dingle: Breda’s Island by Jessie Ann Foley. It was a treat for me to revisit the familiar landscape in the author’s descriptions, and the story was as engaging as the setting.

Breda and her mom Maura have always been a team. The two of them against the world, making it on their own in Chicago, even though Maura is an undocumented Irish immigrant. Lately, Maura is too busy providing for them by running her salon, and Breda yearns to get her mom’s attention. When Breda is caught stealing, Maura sends her to Ireland for the summer to live with a grandfather Breda has never met.

Granda is a farmer in Dingle and not very friendly or talkative. Maura warns Breda about Granda’s night terrors and tells her she’ll have to wake him if he screams in the night. This is the person she has to live with for a whole summer? Breda finds this all overwhelming but she is grateful for the independence — and the bicycle — that Granda gives her. She tools around the peninsula and begins to feel a kinship with the place.

Granda is a storyteller who performs at the local pub. Through his stories of banshees, fairies, and other creatures (both real and imagined), Breda starts to understand her roots and her family. She wonders if being in Ireland might allow her to learn who her father was and why her mom left Ireland when she was pregnant with Breda.

Foley writes with heart and detail that bring Breda’s yearnings to life. As Breda grows closer to Granda and finds friends in Dingle, she also learns who she wants to be and how her history fits into her future.