Venetia Kelly’s Traveling Show

A digressive story set in 1930s Ireland, Delaney’s latest (after Shannon ) chronicles the travels and travails of 18-year-old Ben as he is dispatched by his mother to track down his wayward father, who left the family to pursue a mysterious actress. Ben enters into the search with trepidation, but he perseveres, driven by his love for his father and his wish to restore his parents’ heretofore loving marriage. Following Venetia’s show from town to town, Ben gets an education—about his father as a person in his own right, about Irish politics and society, about love and evil, and, inevitably, about himself. Threaded throughout are digressions into Irish history and politics as well as explorations of Irish folklore. This hybrid quest saga, bildungsroman, and grassroots view of Ireland in its post–civil war era is immersive and enjoyable, and it showcases Delaney’s talent for inventive metaphor, which he manipulates with an expert hand. (Mar.)