Re: Canon Sheehan

Very glad to see that Canon Sheehan was not forgotten. I thought that the essay (The Quiet Tragedy of Canon Sheehan, by Tom Garvin; Studies, volume 98, number 390, Summer 2009, pp 159-168) was somewhat unfair. Why no mention of Glenanaar and also The Queen's Fillet?

Glenanaar is probably his most loved book, and it should be known in the Ireland of today, whereby we might again find our true identity. The Queen's Fillet is a good story about revolutionary France and the nastiness of the Bourbons, which I consider to be of equal merit with A Tale of Two Cities

Canon Sheehan deserves a better essay than that given by Tom Garvin. His was not a tragedy, but a triumph for Irish writing of his time, which would well merit a more positive review for the new Ireland, which, we hope, will emerge from the ruins of the Celtic Tiger.

Michael Donnellan, Limerick.