#Book Review-‘The Wooden Hill’ by Jamie Guiney

Many thanks once more to Swansea Waterstones and Epoque Press for my copy of ‘The Wooden Hill’ by Jamie Guiney.

This short story collection comprises of 18 stories which cover all of the procession of life from before birth, to after death. Divided into 3 parts which cover loosely states childhood, adulthood and being elderly, they are bite sized snapshots that form the steps from womb to tomb.

Lyrical and poetic, the stories build upon each other without being directly connected to each other although, I felt a thread ran from story 1 to story 18, and that they were perhaps autobiographical in nature (based on the author dedication and notes at the end).

Each covers a moment in time which could be memories,could be  happening right now or what lies ahead of us. They are experiences within most of us to envisage such as waiting for Father Christmas, visiting the corner shop, doing something that seems like a herculean task with great satisfaction,only for the bigger kid, or adult, to come along and ruin it.

Friendship, neighbourly-ness, work and play are all under the microscope in these tales reassessing and reaffirming life with each step.

The hope that we aspire to as unformed and unexperienced babies is starkly constrasted with being elderly and without hope, waiting to die. It feels, when reading it , that you are a voyeur witnessing all these moments of life as they jump living and breathing from the page. And whilst you read you wonder where you are on this wooden hill, what experiences have you formed into steps and what is next?

The stories have a commonality without being formulaic and a distinctly Irish tone that came across so well in the stories with dialogue in them. I loved it and am so glad to have had the opportunity to have read it.

Jamie Guiney is a writer from County Armagh, Northern Ireland,.His short stories have been published internationally and he has been nominated twice for ‘The Pushcart Prize’.

Jamie is a graduate of the Faber & Faber Writing Academy and has twice been a judge for short story competition ‘The New Rose Prize. His work has been backed by several Individual Artist Awards and he has also been chosen by Lagan Online as one of their new original writers.

‘The Wooden Hill’ is available in paperback from all good bookshops.