In the sequel to the New York Times bestseller An Irish Country Doctor, Patrick Taylor takes us back to the aggressively cheerful sounding village of Ballybucklebo. Try to be unhappy in a town land with such a melodious faux Celtic name and you'll be soundly defeated, which is the point of this blatantly escapist fare. Faster than you can say "Begod, that's a powerful lump of a summer's day," the young doctor at the center of this beguiling tale is meeting all the colorful locals and hearing all about their colorful folk cures. Meanwhile, Patricia, the young love of his life, is on the brink of winning an engineering scholarship to Cambridge University, which means he may soon have to choose to follow her or lose what may be the love of his life. What's a boy to do? Surrender to the joyously quirky Irish countryside and its loveably eccentric denizens, of course. You'll either be charmed or homicidal by the end of this frothy tale. Forge, $14.95.
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