Overview
Chud Conduit, the wild grandson of the most successful business woman in Monument, and Anglo-Irish Jack Santry, gentle heir to Main, the big estate on the hill, are unlikely friends. United by their love for Rosa and then by a terrible event that flings all three adolescents from their garden of Eden, Jack and Chud meet again on the beaches of Normandy where acts of bravery and cowardice determine the course of the rest of their lives in ways that none of them can anticipate. One of them wins Rosa's hand in marriage, and in this constellation all three embark on adult life, bound in a triangle of love that is stronger than social convention, beyond even law.Synopsis
Chud Conduit, the wild grandson of the most successful businesswoman in Monument, and Anglo-Irish Jack Santry, heir to Main, the estate on the hill, are unlikely friends. United by their love for Rosa and then by a terrible event that flings all three adolescents from their Garden of Eden, Jack and Chud meet again on the beaches of Normandy, where acts of bravery and cowardice determine the rest of their lives. One of them wins Rosa's hand in marriage, the other her eternal affection, sealing their destinies together over six decades, in love and war, through adultery and murder, bound in a triangle that is stronger than social convention, beyond even law.
Consequences of the Heart is a glorious, sweeping narrative that encapsulates a whole Irish community and landscape, a work of sensual lyricism, effortless characterization, and sparkling humor.
Peter Cunningham wrote successful thrillers under a pseudonym before his first literary novel, Tapes of the River Delta, was published to great acclaim in 1996. This is his second literary novel.
* "Consequences of the Heart is the work of a storyteller at the peak of his power." —Dermot Bolger
* "If he never writes another word, he has won an enduring place in the literature of Ireland at the end of this century." —Kevin Myers, The Irish Times
* "A splendidly lush, richly eloquent chronicle of two intertwined careers in a changing Ireland, and of the woman both men adore." —Boyd Tonkin, The Independent
New York Times Book Review - James Zug
... the story of three lovers and their alternating bouts of infatuation and disenchantment is told with delicacy and skill.
Editorials
James Zug
... the story of three lovers and their alternating bouts of infatuation and disenchantment is told with delicacy and skill.—New York Times Book Review
From the Publisher
“A writer of great gifts” - Barry Unsworth, Booker Prize winner“Cunningham’s descriptive writing is as superb as his characterization.” - Sue Leonard, Irish Examiner
“… uncompromising in his commitment to the plain storytelling of old-fashioned romance and the effect is something like that of an old-fashioned movie that is apparently uncomplicated but yet becomes a classic.” - John Kenny, The Irish Times " In a narrative that spans more than 60 years in the lives of its characters, Irish author Cunningham examines a Jules-and-Jim–type love affair as well as a mysterious incident from D-Day....A lovingly detailed examination of 20th-century Anglo-Irish culture as well as a dissection of personal relationships." - Kirkus
Kirkus Reviews
In a narrative that spans more than 60 years in the lives of its characters, Irish author Cunningham examines a Jules-and-Jim–type love affair as well as a mysterious incident from D-Day.
In David Copperfield fashion, Chud Church begins by recounting the circumstances of his conception and birth. His father was an Italian sailor passing through the Irish port of Monument and his mother a local beauty who dies at a relatively young age. Chud is raised by his formidable maternal grandmother, Ma Church, who becomes a successful entrepreneur and property owner. The core of the story revolves around Chud's relationship to Jack Santry, scion of a prominent family, and Rosa Bensey, the love interest of both Jack and Chud. Owing to a coin toss before the two friends set out for the D-Day Invasion, Jack winds up marrying Rosa and Chud is relegated to the status of "good friend." Fate has other things in store, of course, including a postwar scandal involving Jack's cowardice on that day and a subsequent attempt on the part of a fellow soldier to blackmail him. Chud finds out about the blackmailer, visits him and, in anger, winds up killing him—though almost no one knows this at the time. Eventually, Chud and Rosa begin a passionate affair, a consummation that for many years Chud has devoutly wished for, despite his own marriage and the birth (and death) of a daughter. As Cunningham traces his story across decades and several generations, we learn that Jack and Rosa's son Kevin desires to exact revenge on Chud, and he does this through exerting severe economic pressure.
A lovingly detailed examination of 20th-century Anglo-Irish culture as well as a dissection of personal relationships.