Cover image for The new policeman
Title:
The new policeman
Personal Author:
Thompson, Kate, 1956-, author
Publication Information:
London : The Bodley Head, 2005
ISBN:
9780370328232
Subject Term:
English fiction

Space and time -- Fiction

Fairies -- Fiction

Music -- Fiction

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Material Type
Item Category 1
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 30000010128318 PR6070.H84 N48 2005 Open Access Book Creative Book
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Summary

Summary

Everyone in Kinvara is conscious that time is flying past, faster and faster - to such an extent that when JJ asks his mother what she would like as a birthday present she ask for more time. JJ dismisses this as mere wishful thinking, an impossibility, for who know where the time goes?

The Liddys have been musicians for generations and JJ is no exception but what he discovers is that a shadow from the past hangs over their family -did his great-grandfather murder the village priest? When he sets out to buy his mother time, he discovers the fate of a flute which will provide the key to both problems - it is the vital clue. He makes the transition to Tir na n'Og, the land of eternal youth, where the fairy people are also having a problem with time and it falls to his lot to locate the leak between the two parallel worlds. JJ finds where time goes!

Music proves to be the touchstone for communication between the fairy and the human domains and the book is saturated with the lure of Irish music for JJ`s whole existence is built round the ceili and each chapter relates to a tune, printed out as a heading so that the reader can also become a performer. As for the New Policeman, Larry O'Dwyer, he is an enigmatic figure who has a significant bearing on the plot but whose identity is kept a superbly guarded secret to the very last surprising moment.


Reviews 4

School Library Journal Review

Gr 7-10-J.J. Liddy, 15, is descended from a proud old family of Irish musicians. In his small village of Kinvara, playing traditional music is a way of life. Lately, though, it seems that the townspeople have less and less time to fulfill daily responsibilities and very few moments left over to make music and enjoy life. In exasperation, J.J.'s mother asks for more time as her birthday gift. Unaware of any magical implications, the teen innocently sets out to find out where the time has gone. This search leads him into the heart of T'r na n'Og, the land of eternal youth, where he discovers the truth about some family secrets and the identity of the rather hopeless new town policeman, whose mysterious investigation parallels J.J.'s quest. This novel delivers richly tantalizing morsels of Irish mythology as traditional characters dance across the pages. In a story interspersed with snippets of Irish jigs that reflect the progress of the tale, Thompson has masterfully woven together melody and harmony into a tune that will lead readers to a splendid, rollicking crescendo. Some unfamiliar Irish terminology might make comprehension difficult for those who struggle with reading, but the glossary will help mature readers. Those who follow this story through to the end will not be disappointed.-Heather M. Campbell, Philip S. Miller Library, Castle Rock, CO (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.


Publisher's Weekly Review

Irish author Thompson's enchanting story may be a long book but it reads quickly-fitting since it's about irregularities in the passage of time. J.J. Liddy, 15, lives in a village on Ireland's fabled west coast where the prevailing complaint is about too-busy adults and overprogrammed kids ("Children could scarcely even find time for making mischief"). "Time" is what J.J.'s mother wants most for her birthday. The Liddys, renowned musicians for generations, regularly host a c?il! (dance) with musicians and step-dancers at their home. But though J.J. is a gifted musician himself, he wants to be two places at once when a friend suggests they go clubbing the same night as the monthly c?il!. En route to turn his friend down, J.J. is waylaid by a woman who knows why time is flying by but needs J.J. (for reasons having to do with his family history) to fix it. The problem has nothing to do with Ireland joining the E.U., as many locals believe, but rather with events in T!r na n'Og, the fairy kingdom. As J.J. puts it, "Time is leaking out of our world into yours"-a deadly development, since heretofore the "little people" had enjoyed eternal life. Thompson's nifty plotting mines a rich vein of Irish faerie lore and magic for this meditation on the losses that modernization brings. The book is a kind of love song to traditional Irish music, every chapter ends with a melody. Readers may wish the book came with a CD. Ages 10-up. (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved


Booklist Review

Heart-pounding Irish music is the common ground between material and magical worlds in this ambitious fantasy, which begins in western Ireland. When J. J. Liddy is 15, his mother jokingly asks for a birthday present of more time. From an eccentric neighbor, J. J. learns to his astonishment that his mother's request may not be impossible to fill. Bravely venturing into an alternate fairy world, J. J. takes on a thrilling, epic quest in which he confronts dark family rumors and tries to repair a cosmic time leak between his world and the land of eternal youth. Thompson packs her mesmerizing, chaotic novel with Irish culture (including phrases defined in a glossary), interconnected mysteries, and sly questions about the stresses of contemporary life and the age-old frictions between religion and folklore. Readers will quickly overlook any creaky plot connections and fall eagerly into the rich, comic language and the captivating characters and scenes, particularly those that feature musicians (including talented J. J.), who play the wild, anarchic music that bridges worlds. Musical scores for Irish tunes (some written by Thompson) close each chapter in this soulful, wildly imagined tale that has already won several British awards, including the Guardian Children's Book Prize and the Whitbread Children's Book Award. Suggest it to fans of O. R. Melling's The Hunter's Moon (2005) and Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl books. --Gillian Engberg Copyright 2007 Booklist


Library Journal Review

Where does the time go? J.J. Liddy's mother tells him that the only thing she wants for her birthday is more time. J.J. sets out to find her some and discovers that time really is running out for the otherworldly inhabitants of TIr na n'Og. Listen Up: This fanciful tale is an allegory for old and new Ireland; the place where one can sit with a neighbor, enjoy a cup of tea, and maybe hear a tune as one surrenders to the go-go rush of the modern world. Each chapter begins with a musical interlude, Irish folksongs with names like "The Teetotaller" and "A Priest and His Boots." Adult listeners know better the pressures of our age and will cheer all the louder when the musicians and storytellers win the day. More fun than a complete boxed set of Ballykissangel.-Angelina Benedetti, King Cty. Lib. Syst., WA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.


Excerpts

Excerpts

New Policeman, The MOB Chapter One J.J. Liddy and his best friend, Jimmy Dowling, often had arguments. J.J. never took them seriously. He even considered them a sign of the strength of the friendship, because they always made up again straightaway, unlike some of the girls in school, who got into major possessive battles with one another. But on that day in early September, during the first week that they were back in school, they had an argument like none before. J.J. couldn't even remember now what it had been about. But at the end of it, at the point where they usually came round to forgiving each other and patching it up, Jimmy had dropped a bombshell. "I should have had more sense than to hang around with you anyway, after what my granny told me about the Liddys." His words were followed by a dreadful silence, full of J.J.'s bewilderment and Jimmy's embarrassment. He knew he had gone too far. "What about the Liddys?" said J.J. "Nothing." Jimmy turned to go back into school. J.J. stood in front of him. "Go on. What did she tell you?" Jimmy might have been able to wriggle his way out of it and pretend it was a bluff, but he had been overheard. He and J.J. were no longer alone. Two other lads, Aidan Currie and Mike Ford, had overheard and had come to join in. "Go on, Jimmy," said Aidan. "You may as well tell him." "Yeah," said Mike. "If he doesn't know he must be the only person in the county who doesn't." The bell rang for the end of the morning break. They all ignored it. "Know what?" said J.J. He felt cold, terrified, not of something that might happen but of something that he might find inside himself; in his blood. "It was a long time ago," said Jimmy, still trying to retract. "What was?" "One of the Liddys . . ." Jimmy said something else but he mumbled it beneath his breath and J.J. couldn't hear. It sounded like "burgled the beast." The teacher on yard duty was calling them in. Jimmy began to walk toward the school. The others fell in. "He did what?" said J.J. "Forget it," said Jimmy. It was Aidan Currie who said it, loud enough for J.J. or anyone else to hear. "Sure, everyone knows about it. Your great-granddad. J.J. Liddy, same as yourself. He murdered the priest." J.J. stopped in his tracks. "No way!" "He did, so," said Mike. "And all for the sake of an old wooden flute." "You're a shower of liars!" said J.J. The boys, except for Jimmy, laughed. "Always mad for the music, the same Liddys," said Mike. He began to hop and skip toward the school in a goofy parody of Irish dancing. Aidan trotted beside him, singing an out-of-tune version of "The Irish Washerwoman." Jimmy glanced back at J.J. and, his head down, followed them as they went back in. J.J. stood alone in the yard. It couldn't be true. But he knew, now that he thought about it, that there had always been something behind the way some of the local people regarded him and his family. A lot of people in the community came to the céilís and the set-dancing classes that were held at his house on Saturdays. They had always come, and their parents and grandparents had come before them. In recent years the numbers had increased dramatically with the influx of new people into the area. Some of them came from thirty miles away and more. But there was, and always had been, a large number of local people who would have nothing to do with the Liddys or their music. They didn't exactly cross the street to avoid J.J. and his family, but they didn't talk to them either. J.J., if he'd thought about it at all, had assumed it was because his parents were one of the only couples in the district who weren't married, but what if that wasn't the reason? What if it had really happened? Could J.J. be descended from a murderer? "Liddy!" The teacher was standing at the door, waiting for him. J.J. hesitated. For a moment it seemed to him that there was no way he could set foot inside that school again. Then the solution came to him. The teacher closed the door behind him. "What do you think you were doing, standing out there like a lemon?" "Sorry," said J.J. "I didn't realize you were talking to me." "Who else would I be talking to?" "My name's Byrne," said J.J. "My mother's name is Liddy all right, but my father's name is Byrne. I'm J.J. Byrne." New Policeman, The MOB . Copyright © by Kate Thompson . Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold. Excerpted from The New Policeman by Kate Thompson All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.