CACOPHONY OF BONE The Circle of a Year

In this moving memoir, Kerri ní Dochartaigh's Irish accent highlights the setting, her isolated cottage and its wild surroundings in the heart of Ireland. Her phrasing emphasizes the rhythms of her words, and lyricism adds to the year-long collection of poems, essays, and diary excerpts. Her observations mark transitions from the lonely isolation of winter to the blossoming of spring and then to fall. Gradually, listeners hear her appreciation as the outside world transitions to the world within. Ní Dochartaigh's range of emotions adds layers to subjects such as writing and reading, racism, myth and fairy tales, dreams, nature's glory, alcohol abstinence, and her own pregnancy. The emotional arc begins as the pandemic brings loneliness but yields to her joyous expectations of birth. S.W. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine [Published: DECEMBER 2023]