The Shining Fragments

Shining Fragments, is an adult general fictional account of the trials and tribulations of the Irish immigrating to Canada in the late 1800’s. The protagonist Joseph Conlon, a resilient 8 year-old lad, boards a ship in Northern Ireland with his mother and sister but ends up growing up on his own in Toronto, Canada. The Shining Fragments is Robin Blackburn MacBride’s first novel, which she adds to her previously published self-help ebook (Birdlight) and poetry book (In Green).

“Mam died on the third day of the crossing. After that Joseph stayed in the dark…”

Joseph is left with his sister Coleen on the first line of Chapter 1. Soon after this he is separated from Coleen and spends his life growing up in an environment that is inhospitable for both his nationality and his religion. Through the help of his friends and the people he loves he learns to survive and to find his place. With age he even starts to understand the influences that make him the man he becomes.

McBride does an excellent job of portraying Joseph Conlon. I have to admit that I don’t like him. He continually makes himself a victim. When given opportunities he walks away from them. He focuses on himself primarily and does not treat those closest to him very well. He is very much a follower and is extremely lucky that the people around him lead him down the right path. McBride receives my accolades because she managed to make me really dislike Joseph without overtly making him out to be the bad guy.

There is an overall sadness about the book that I feel doesn’t break even as the book closes. Again McBride does an excellent job of leading one toward this feeling without dwelling on tearful events that make it obvious why one should feel depressed.

I recommend this book to people who like emotional stories. Life can be hard for some and they still do alright. I want to thank NetGalley and Guernica Editions for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.

It is perhaps only the shining fragments of one's childhood that persist into adulthood. The defining memories, the stand-out moments; the instilled values that shape and equip you. And so it is for Joseph Conlon. Abandoned following an arduous voyage from Ireland to Toronto in the 1800s, the book opens with him as a young boy rocking and crying alone at Union Station as the passage intended for four, culminates with him all alone and with nowhere to go. This child is gripped by overriding visions and dreams of his mother's lost child Annie, the weight of his father's confidence in him and the teachings of the Irish legends handed down by word of mouth from his Uncle. Passing from Catholic orphanage to the shelter of companionship and then (as a result of questionable fortune) under the watchful eye of a repentant benefactor who recognises Joseph's artistic talents aswell as a responsibility to see him right, the reader experiences Master Conlon's struggle to raise himself to a high enough level to meet his own expectations.
However, far greater than any physical torments are the tortuous leanings of Joseph's own conscience: haunted by a multitude of wrongdoings including-his mother's demise, his sister's adoption, his friend's prostitution and his faltering faith, Constantly, he chides and judges himself in pursuit of improvement. Even his wife senses it; "Do you think we're being punished Joseph?"
Unusually (and refreshingly) McBride's protagonist encounters mainly 'good' (though not always virtuous) souls on his journey, and it is this (as well as the vivid sense of time and place) that most endeared me to this tale.
The story glittered and was an absolute honour to read. Thank you.

This is a beautiful story but involves great tragedy from a lonely childhood travelling across the Atlantic.
Many Irish immigrants travelled to Canada during the 19th century - the mother of Joseph Conlon (the main character in the book) tells of her brother Uncle Seamus who now lives in Montreal - "Montreal is a second Ireland ....so many Irish, they say you'll think you haven't left Derry".
But the idealism of sailing to a new continent is soon tragically dashed and by the time Joseph arrives on land with his sister Colleen they are lonely and frightened. Helpful Old Ciara takes Colleen while Joseph waits for his uncle. But when he never appear he is taken to 'Sunnyside' run by nuns of Our Lady of Mercy. I wondered if a Catholic nun run children's home was going to lead to all sorts of cruelty for Joseph but although he faced the cane, overall the Sisters were kind and helped him deal with his tragic circumstances.
In the home he meets and quickly befriends Deary Avery, an older girl, who Joseph idolises and for whom he loves, loses, searches and cares for throughout the novel. Joseph is often searching for things - particularly affection and love- and his young sexuality in a busy city where women often have to give their bodies for cash appears quite shocking but obviously quite realistic for the time.
Joseph felt like an Artful Dodger character at first, having learnt card games, gambling, heavy drinking and paying for prostitutes but this is often because he remains lost in the turmoil of his abandonment.
There are some great characters in the novel - one eyed Tim is Joseph's friend at the orphanage and the mill where they work, Myrtle the talented and somewhat 'new woman' as the century turns to the 20th and of course the ever present Deary.
The author had travelled often to Northern Ireland and she has certainly soaked up a lot of its history, religion and folklore. The many stories of Kings of Ireland and beasts that Joseph tells to remind him of home and engage with others are brilliantly told and create some wonderful images.
There is also the descriptions of the industrial city of Toronto, how it expands, the different nations who live there and the changes in factory life all of which develop as Joseph finds his eventual trade making stained glass pictures. Wonderful images are drawn with words in the novel and I found it extremely interesting to read of the development of the city from Joseph's arrival through the 1887 Toronto Industrial Fair to the new for Trade Unions within a workforce often left open to disfigurement or death in dangerous manufacturing industries..
As a reader I was totally invested in Joseph's life and hoped for happiness and peace for him in an often turbulent time as he grows from young boy to adult.

This is a charming and heart-warming – and sometime heart-breaking – tale of a young Irish boy who emigrates to Canada from his native Ireland. His mother dies en route and he is left to fend for himself, alone and abandoned. Spanning the years from 1882 to 1904, and set in Toronto, we follow Joseph Conlon as he comes-of-age and makes a life for himself. This so easily could have been a sentimentalised and overly-romanticised story, but the author expertly avoids the clichés of the abandoned child story by allowing Joseph to meet and be sheltered by basically well-meaning and kind adults. He’s taken to an orphanage run by nuns – but these are not the cruel nuns of so many chronicles but gentle and loving ones. Joseph turns his skill as an artist into a successful career. He makes friends. In fact, it’s often Joseph himself who makes bad choices and hurts others. It’s an emotional novel, but a believable one, and the void in Joseph’s inner life and his longing for his unborn sister Annie is hauntingly portrayed. A pleasure to read.