SAINTS FOR ALL OCCASIONS by J. Courtney Sullivan

This is one of those books which leaves a lot of questions unanswered.  That didn’t bother me too much, because it is certainly more about the journey than the destination.  The journey is a sweeping family saga of two Irish sisters, Nora and Theresa.  Nora is engaged to Charlie, who moves to the U.S. when his brother inherits the family farm.  Nora and Theresa follow, as Nora, the dutiful older sister, is engaged to Charlie, whom she does not love.  Theresa is more adventurous and somewhat frivolous but eventually becomes a cloistered nun in Vermont.  Nora and Charlie raise four children, and the book opens with the death of Patrick, the oldest.  I liked this novel with all the family interactions and especially the mountain of family secrets, but, other than Theresa’s sudden decision to become a nun, not too much happens.  In fact, some of the secrets remain secrets—some to the reader and some to the family members.  What’s the point of a secret if we don’t get to witness the shock value when they’re revealed?  After much backtracking, the family finally gathers for Patrick’s funeral near the end of the novel.  For me, this is where things finally started to get interesting.  I have to ask, though, if almost all men of Irish descent have a drinking problem.  So it would appear from much of the fiction about Irish immigrants.  I mostly enjoyed this novel, but I don’t think it broke any new ground.