Theresa Kishkan

Looking for Cornelius

Fiction

“In Looking for Cornelius, Diana Hayes takes readers through an Irish landscape haunted by stone circles and ancient monastic ruins, lingering at lakes where saints performed miracles. We accompany Deirdre, a music teacher from Montreal, and her student Éamon, a gifted young fiddler, to Cork so that Éamon can audition for a place in a prestigious music program. Both are also searching for answers to the old riddles of family and belonging. Threaded through the narrative, phrases of poetry and of folk songs in Gaeilge and English, serve as both gorgeous soundtrack and field-guide to this rich and lyrical novella. The novella is a special form, providing a meeting place for the intersection of characters and elliptical storytelling; Looking for Cornelius occupies this space beautifully and memorably.”