An Irish Country Christmas

By: Patrick Taylor

Narrated by: John Keating

In An Irish Country Christmas, the third book in Patrick Taylor's Irish Country Books, Barry Laverty, M.B., is looking forward to his first Christmas in the cozy village of Ballybucklebo, at least until he learns that his sweetheart, Patricia, might not be coming home for the holidays. That unhappy prospect dampens his spirits somewhat, but Barry has little time to dwell on his romantic disappointments. Christmas may be drawing nigh, but there is little peace to be found on earth, especially for a young doctor plying his trade in the emerald hills and glens of rural Ireland.

Along with his senior partner, Doctor Fingal Flahertie O'Reilly, Barry has his hands full dealing with seasonal coughs and colds, as well as the occasional medical emergency. To add to the doctors' worries, competition arrives in the form of a patient-poaching new physician whose quackery threatens the health and well-being of the good people of Ballybucklebo. Can one territory support three hungry doctors? Barry has his doubts.

But the wintry days and nights are not without a few tidings of comfort and joy. Between their hectic medical practice, Rugby Club parties, and the kiddies' Christmas Pageant, the two doctors still find time to play Santa Claus to a struggling single mother with a sick child and not enough money in the bank. Snow is rare in Ulster, and so are miracles, but that doesn't mean they never happen. . . .

©2008 Patrick Taylor (P)2008 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

“Full of stories and vivid characters, the novel recalls a good night in a pub. Its greatest charm lies in homey Ulster idioms. . . . Good, light entertainment.” —Booklist on An Irish Country Village

“John Keating's readings of Patrick Taylor's previous \"Irish Country\" novels are as charming as the books themselves…As in an opera where the story is secondary to the sound, Keating's lilting brogue is a delight to the ear.” —The Roanoke Times

“The unabridged audio edition was narrated by John Keating, whose rendition of the Ulster-Scots language and accents draws you in and gives life to the characters.” —Beth Fish Reads

A wonderful christmas listen

Any additional comments?

I really enjoyed this book as my month of December listening from Audible. It was a great warm up for the holiday season. The quirky stories are jumble of funny silliness and difficulties of every day life. The reader gets the feeling and mood of Ireland from the past. Much like a James Herriot book but with human patients. Highly recommended.

Loved it!

Would you listen to An Irish Country Christmas again? Why?

Yes. I love John's accent and his tone of voice is pleasant. He made me forget that he was reading a book and I felt like a good friend was telling me a story about real people. Every chance I got I wanted to hear more about these townsfolk.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Fingle. He seems so confident and he is a secret softie.

What about John Keating’s performance did you like?

Oh well that would be his voice and accent. He does a great job with the character voices. I am usually a little put off by a man doing female voices because it is like they try too hard. John works within his range and you still know if it is a female character.

If you could take any character from An Irish Country Christmas out to dinner, who would it be and why?

It is a tie between Barry and Fingle. I would love to take them both so I could sit back and enjoy the show.

Any additional comments?

It is a great listen.

best in the series - thus far.

The story os the beat in the series. Relationship are deeper and so much more fun because of it. The narrator makes the story more entertaining. I love how he has voices set for all the characters.
I love this series.

Wonderful Irish Village!

Great continuing story of BalletBuckleBo....I want to gisir there! The people and their lives makes this such a fun story.

Great

Just Great, makes me wish I was back in Ireland. I’ll be back there Soon!

I want to go to BallyBuckleBo

A charming glimpse at an Irish village - filled with characters and curmudgeons - people whom I would love to know in person. Spend some time in BallyBuckleBo (sp?) - you won't regret it.

charming

charming...but several scenes were much longer than they needed to be.
sixteen hours for an audiobook is long for me...if I had sped up to 1.25, I wouldn’t have been able to understand the accent.
I loved kinky! :)

a perfect Christmas listen.

This was a sweet heart warming story that is perfect for Christmas. Listening to this story will be a new tradition.

Not as good as the two books earlier in series

The underlying theme in this book is romance. I have to say that this author's depiction of romance is rather, quite, shallow. Two people met for two months and already fall in love and think about marriage? Given the more progressive writing about the girl's belief in women being able to do what men do, which I whole-heartedly support, it is incredible that the romance part is so, so shallow. Kissing other girls while having a girlfriend? And the older doctor encouraging him to have it on with other girls??? This is ridiculous!!! Does the average man think like that? I hope not! I couldn't stand it.

I almost couldn't finish the book. I did, because well I had a while to wait until the next month's credits come in, and I wanted something to listen to.

The romance in the next book in the series is not any better. Two people meet for one evening, and the girl already has deep, deep feelings toward the boy, and thinking in terms of "love." Really??? I'm afraid that is not representative of girls. Is the meaning of love so shallow to the author?? This is ridiculous!

Rest of the book is okay. But as this was the underlying theme and keeps being mentioned, I don't remember much about the rest of the book other than how much I didn't like the theme.

Very detailed

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

This wasn't my type of story. It moved too slow and had too many details that didn't add to the story. There wasn't much of a climax...I kept waiting for it to "get good". The writing was fine and the performance was good. All that being said it was worth finishing.