Becoming Finola

After turning to memoir, most recently in Shelf Life [BKL My 1/04], Shea, whose novels include Around Again (2001), returns to fiction in another delightfully enchanting tale about the unorthodox ways dreams can come true. Sophie and Gina leave Massachussetts for the tiny Irish village of Booley on a whim, and, just as whimsically, Gina returns home after just one day. Sophie stays, captivated by Booley's charm and denizens, especially a woman who is no longer around. Finola O'Flynn, she of the shop that bears her name, skipped town without so much as a wave of her shillelah, breaking her lover's heart and leaving scores of devoted villagers whose problems she solved in the lurch. As Sophie literally steps into Finola's shoes, she begins living Finola's life. So effortless is the tranformation, Sophie is unwilling to relinquish her new identity--and new boyfriend--when the real Finola suddenly reappears. Shea's Sophie is a beguiling heroine, a plucky, lucky American minx who becomes the sort of Irish lass that would have made Maureen O'Hara proud.