About the Book
Cnuasach is the Gaelic word for collection or anthology. Irish author Martin Towey brings together a collection of heartfelt memoirs, thought-provoking poems and humorous short stories, many of which reflect key moments in the author's life. The book opens with a beautiful allegory featuring a young hare and a wise, old lark; a tale which will appeal to young and old. It suggests a journey upon which the author will bring us in subsequent chapters; a life journey to which many readers may relate. These are stories explore what connects us; our common humanity.
With humour and sensitivity, the author chronicles his memories of an introverted, under-confident little boy from a loving family in conservative 1980s Catholic Ireland, into turbulent teenage and adolescent years and adulthood thereafter. One theme given intimate attention early on, is that of experiences in childhood, living on a farm in rural Ireland. In Memories of Saint Patrick and Visiting the Relations, the author describes in moving prose, the innocence of childhood experience, in an Ireland long since passed. The reader is afforded a glimpse into the heart of a little child; somethings that many of us can relate to and remember; the simple pleasures that bring pure joy whatever our age and the idyll of unconditional love and safety. It speaks to us of something deep within us all that never tires; the need for love and safety, and the fear of their loss. It is testimony to the unbreakable bonds which can exist between us as humans. The Long Way Round paints a picture of a painfully protracted scholastic experience; one which navigates the educational highs and lows of primary school, secondary school and third level. A Question of Pride recalls how growing up gay in the conservative, Catholic Ireland of the 1980s and 1990s, was something best hidden; such was the stigma, hatred and shame that surrounded anyone out-with the heteronormative idyll. Internalised homophobia, fueled by social conditioning, conflicted with a deep need for sexual and emotional expression. This was both alluring and illicit and brought the author to places of intense loneliness and emotional pain, forfeiting self-care in the militant pursuit of intimate love and belonging. Finding a compassionate and skilled psychotherapist, having the support of a more evolved family and finding a community of beautiful individuals, both straight and gay, we witness the author's emergence as someone who is loved and someone, like all of us, who can overcome adversity and find peace.
Alluded to throughout the book, we get a sense of the intense heartache and catastrophic impact of suicide and its impact on those left behind, such as the cruel legacy of guilt and regret. The rawness and honesty of poems in Cnuasach such as Nuclear Fallout, capture the intractable pain and void left following the author's mother's suicide. This is in stark contrast to The Seawoman, which is full of beauty and hope, as the author gives the reader a sense of his mother's strength of character, painting a mythical Boudica-type heroine; a warrior woman who battled with clinical depression throughout her life to stay where she was needed and to care for her children, she loved so fiercely.
The book takes an unexpected and more upbeat U-turn in the second half of the book with several lighthearted, insightful and witty short stories such as All Packed, the epic Ireland Ah, Conor McGregor and Tales of the Unenlightened. These stories describe different situations, over a 6-month period abroad, when the author took a sabbatical to travel to various countries such as Iran, Nepal, India, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam and Japan towards the end of 2019 and early 2020, before the outbreak of Covid-19.
It is only towards the end of the book, in a story entitled, The Dance, that Towey discusses the love he has for his work as a neurological physiotherapist. He likens the dance between one of his patients and his partner to the delicate steps we must make in caring professions, when those we work with are stripped back to their most vulnerable states. To witness a breakthrough in recovery, or perhaps the surrender of independence and self-determination, is a beautiful but often painful privilege; one which requires the best of ourselves. He concludes by stating that 'in spite of and because of all of this, those precious moments, when the human spirit emerges to shine brighter than the brightest sun and grace reveals itself in its most beautiful dance, we must never give in, and we must always keep heart'. The book ends reminding the reader of the exquisite beauty that resides within the human spirit, the potential for love, compassion and connection. Elements we all endeavour to experience in this, our one short life.
Table of Contents:
Preface 9
The Lark and the Hare 11
Memories of St. Patrick 22
Visiting the Relations 25
Interlude 1.1: The Sea Woman 36
The Long Way Round 38
Interlude 1.2: Nuclear Fallout 52
Better Late than Never 53
A Question of Pride 60
All Packed 67
'Ireland, ah, Conor McGregor' (Tales of a gay ginger in the Islamic Republic of Iran) 74
Interlude 1.3: On Waking 102
A Long and Winding Road 103
Tales of the Unenlightened 123
The Dance 135
About the Author :
Martin Towey is an Irish-born author living in a village on the east coast of Scotland. A neurological physiotherapist by profession, he has always loved writing since a small boy. His short stories are mostly historical fiction but he has also written a stress management booklet. His last book An Act of Madness, has recently been adapted for the stage.
