Niall Williams, born in Dublin, and Christine Breen, born in New York and educated in Boston and Dublin, decided to leave New York City for her ancestral home in Kiltumper in rural Ireland when they were in their twenties. Niall calls it, “a purely romantic impulse, equal parts foolish and rapturous, and it turned out to be the defining moment of our lives.” In Kiltumper: A Year in an Irish Garden, written together, is set thirty-five years later after they have raised a family and grown accustomed to the rhythms of their writing and gardening habits. I read an advance reading copy of the book furnished by Net Galley. It will be released August 31 and can be preordered.
The book carries a monthly diary of their garden and their lives in the year 2019 with both of them writing and gardening. The feel has Niall writing away from early morning while Chris makes her way to the garden. Her contribution comes as a reaction to what he has written – sometimes agreeing and adding information, sometimes giving a different opinion, and sometimes putting a spin on something he has omitted that is important to her. Their light-hearted repartee shows differences on little things but togetherness on the love of the garden and nature, an abhorrence of the wind turbines that are going up on the next farm, concern about their writing projects that are needed to keep their simple lifestyle afloat, and a common concern over daily injections for Chris’s cancer and what that outcome will be. His work is in regular type with hers in italics, but their distinctive voices could probably be recognized without that clue. One almost gets the feel of sitting with them around their fire, as they tell what is happening in today’s garden or protest the damage being done by those who are bringing in the wind turbines. A short chapter at the end gives a picture of how their world changed in the pandemic of 2020.
This is a book for gardeners, for writers, for nature lovers, for those awaiting results from medical procedures, and for anyone who loves to read sentences well put together.