The Rag Tree: A novel of Ireland

D.P. Costello’s spellbinding novel, The Rag Tree, breathes dark, vivid life into Ireland’s passionate legends. Crisp and sharp-witted, Costello’s tale probes a modern Ireland torn between letting go of time-honored dreams and embracing the promises of a prosperous New Ireland. Even as they struggle against one another, the Irish Special Branch, the British Army, Scotland Yard, and the I.R.A. find themselves forced to ally against a common foe: The Rag Man. Mattie Joe Treacy is the Rag Man. Engrossed in a desperate quest to find his missing father, Mattie Joe is cursed—by the playboy’s life of drink and carousing, by his family’s staunch adherence to Ireland’s old folk ways, and by a family curse hurled at his clan generations ago. The Curse of the O’Neills, invoked by an angry cleric against Mattie Joe’s great-grandfather, declares that, “the eldest son will not survive the father.” No Treacy son has since outlived his father, and Mattie Joe is next in line to die. Or is he?

Customer Reviews:

The Next Great Novel of Ireland

By A Reader - May 14, 2009

A book populated by, among many colorful characters, a homicidal priest, a progressive prime minister with a gun-running past, and a hard-drinking pooka, or faery spirit, must be unique. And D. P. Costello's long-awaited novel, The Rag Tree, is indeed that. It's a novel of Ireland, after all, and filled with all the magic, sorrow, beauty, and contradictions of that great land.
The Rag Tree is set at a time when the nation is preparing to vote on a referendum that will transform Ireland's traditional place in the world, and all the action centers around this pivotal decision by the people. Though the referendum, known as Eire Nua (New Ireland) is poised to pass, powerful forces are arrayed against it. For them, Eire Nua represents a repudiation of the past and of all the heroic struggles for freedom. These shadowy forces will stop at nothing to derail the referendum; manipulation and murder are their weapons.
Costello's deep understanding of the Irish soul gives his novel... read more

An Enchanting Read

By Peter J. Andrews "consultantsedge" - July 29, 2009

The Rag Tree is mysterious, but not just because we want to find the answers to the questions Costello has artfully filled his novel with. A deeper sense of mystery swirls through the work, testing your sense of what is real and what is myth. Our hard-edge world of laptops, crime scene investigations and realpolitik coexists with pookas and curses and fairies. How do you combine these fictional sensibilities?

It certainly doesn't hurt that the novel is set in Ireland. Castles, bogs and peat fires all stretch the limits of storytelling. But beyond the setting, Costello, an accomplished musician, uses the rhythms and tones of the Irish language to charm the reader into willing acceptance. In fact, I found myself reading passages aloud for the physical experience of rolling the words around in my mouth.

But while the mix of poetry and emotion is unmistakably Celtic, this story is not just for the Irish. Costello weaves together a complex and satisfying puzzle,... read more

First rate!

By paula - July 10, 2009

Once I started reading this book, I couldn't put it down. If you know all about the Irish culture or want to, this is a must read...but it's also a complicated mystery with a great sense of humor. Can't wait for the movie!