A "feisty yarn" set in the 19th century in Ireland, with dialogue in thick Oirish brogue, with lots of research blunders (or perhaps the author simply didn't care?). Not my cup of tea. ( )

As a fan of Michelle Lovric, I was eager to read her newest novel. And I was not disappointed.

This is the story of what it means to be a sister, a lover, a friend. And of course about hair.

The novel follows the story of seven sisters from rural poverty in County Kildare to Dublin to a palazzo in Venice. Each sister has a distinct personality and distinct hair, and each of them experiences loss and love.

The writing is lyrical and moving, but that is to be expected from such a gifted writer. Definitely a must read. ( )

"This story is finely crafted with a turn of phrase that is occasionally outright arresting. "
read more: http://likeiamfeasting.blogspot.gr/2015/04/the-true-splendid-history-of-harristo... ( )

I absolutely could not put this book down. I can't believe that this is the first book I've read by Michelle Lovric, it will definitely not be my last.

The Swiney sisters were amazing characters and they sucked me in immediately. I found their rise to fame spectacular and I loved that they all traveled to Venice. The book oozed Irishness and and matched its time period perfectly. I could not recommend more highly.

I received this book as a GoodReads First Reads. ( )

Even amid the potato famine in 1850s rural Ireland, the seven Swiney sisters are gifted with an abundance of glorious curls. After one of their number, Manticory, narrowly escapes assault because of her red locks, and desperate to leave the abject poverty of their Harristown hovel behind them, the eldest sister, Darcy, comes up with a cunning plan: to sing and dance on the stage and show their hair to a paying public, at a time when the pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood immortalises long hair as the essence of femininity in literature and art, and when a decent woman is only supposed to expose the glory of her full head of hair to her husband in the privacy of their own home. By virtue of the sisters’ final act of follicular exposure, there is a whiff of scandal and notoriety about their stage act, and they – predictably – very quickly earn countrywide fame and a fortune besides. But at what point does the Swiney Godivas’ exploitation of a male obsession turn against them, and they become the exploited? As the sisters discover to their cost, celebrity is not all it’s cracked up to be.

As the author helpfully points out in the Historical Notes section at the end of the novel, and despite its highly original feel, the tale of the seven Swiney sisters is actually inspired by the Seven Sutherland Sisters of Niagara County, New York State in the second half of the 19th century. This fictional portrayal is narrated in the first person by Manticory, the middle sister with the Titian locks, and tells the story of the seven sisters from their fatherless childhood in rural Ireland during the potato famine to their reaching adulthood and retiring to Venice in the 1870s. Manticory is an aspiring writer who seemingly confides in the reader by entrusting them with the real biography of the so-called Swiney Godivas, which is rather different from their projected and public image, split as they are into two sisterly tribes with Darcy being the feared head of the household whom no one dares to contradict, even their harassed mother. All the sisters, as well as the characters entering into their lives, are wonderfully realised with distinctly different personalities, and Manticory’s compelling narration had me entranced from the first page; the inventive invectives exchanged in an Oirish twang between the sisters or Darcy and her archenemy Eileen O’Reilly are particularly enjoyable, but there is heartbreak, loss and poignancy too (the passages describing the victims of the potato famine are brief but extremely powerful, and for me will provide the mental picture of that dark period in Irish history for a long time). Written in beautiful prose to savour, Michelle Lovric has created unforgettable characters and land- and cityscapes that are rich in colour, texture and atmosphere. But there are also darker undercurrents at play here about obsession, the price of fame and celebrity and exploitation in its many forms. Yet I cannot wholeheartedly award it the five-stars rating it should be due as there are a few plot strands that are rather over the top in my opinion, especially towards the end of the book, and the final resolution to a particular problem is resolved rather too neatly to be entirely believable.

In short, an immensely enjoyable, affecting and thought-provoking novel to treasure which I will doubtless pick up and read again. Four and a half stars.

(This review was first written as part of Amazon's Vine programme.) ( )