Emmet And Me By Sara Gethin

‘Emmet And Me’ is the latest book by Sara Gethin.

Summer 1966. Claire and her brothers are packed off to Granny Connemara when their mother runs away. Granny’s rural Irish cottage is very different to their Cardiff city home, the peaty air thick with unspoken secrets. With no sign of Uncle Jack picking them up at the end of the holidays, there is school to be survived. Granny is formidable and the children unsettled by the conversations they’re excluded from. Will Mother ever return? Will they ever get home? Why does their father hate everything to do with Ireland? The only light on Claire’s horizon is an out-of-bounds friendship… and it will
change her life forever.

This book is a hard hitting story, telling the truth about the historical abuse that occurred in orphanages in Ireland that were ran by the Catholic Church.

The story is seen through the innocent eyes of ten year old Claire O’Connell who’s been sent to rural Ireland with her two brothers to live with her grandmother during the 1960’s. She’s left the comforts of Wales for the bogs and peats of Connemara and a gruff grandmother.

Claire is sent to a strict Catholic school and her only friend is Emmett from the neighbouring boys school, they share food and stories and it makes for tender and poignant reading.

Claire is a sweet little girl, she’s had to grow up a lot since moving to Ireland and adapt to more responsibility and way of life. Her grandmother is a tough character, but underneath she has a heart of gold and a character that I warmed to greatly. There are so many great characters, I loved Emmett, with his kind and soft ways and his eagerness to be Claire’s friend.

This book is a tough read, it’s highlights the abuse by the Catholic Church that young children were exposed to. Young girls were mistreated by the nuns and boys were abused by the priests. Many decades later, people are still dealing with the aftermath of this and seeking justice for the physical, sexual and psychological abuse that was exposed to them.

This book is based on a true story and it really struck a chord with me and so many emotions ran through me. From the tender interactions between Claire and Emmet to the gory incident when Emmet got stuck in barbed wire. Sara writes vividly and creates emotions in her storytelling from the wilds of Ireland’s landscapes to the innocence of children’s minds.

A story that will evoke so many emotions from start to finish, ‘Emmet And Me’ is a heartbreaking story of friendship and hope that sadly made for sad reading.

You can buy ‘Emmet And Me’ from Amazon and is available to buy from good bookshops.