Ben says of their time together, “ I was relearning life.” He receives details about being a successful storyteller and embarks on his new profession of travelling around Ireland telling stories. He feels instant remorse and regret.īen becomes an apprentice to the last storyteller, John Jacob Farrell O’Neill. “Gentleman Jack” Stirling is involved so hires thugs to kill Jack. Venetia disappears again and Ben believes that her husband, They can’t seem to recapture their former love although they enjoy their time together despite being pursued by the IRA, the police and Venetia’s husband. But she is a sad shadow of her former self – “life” has happened to her. When Venetia and her new husband, a brutal, abusive man, return to Ireland to perform Ben is determined to not lose her again, so he snatches her off the stage and they are reunited. Despite that, he still constantly thinks about his former wife and true love, Venetia Kelly, who was kidnapped from him 25 years earlier and pregnant, unbeknownst to him. The IRA is at work and Ben inadvertently becomes involved in gun-running with an IRA sympathizer and is pursued both by the IRA and the police. A way that’s decent to ourselves.” Ben is now an old man doing just that - writing a family memoir, his own story, for his twin children. So if we’re to live good lives, we have to tell ourselves our own story.

The Last Storyteller is the third book in a trilogy that began with Venetia Kelly's Traveling Show followed by The Matchmaker of Kenmare and it brings to a close the story of Ben MacCarthy and Venetia Kelly.īen’s mentor, James Clare once told him, “ There’s no story, no matter how ancient, as important as one’s own. It’s different and undoubtedly quirky, but somehow perfect for an Irish tale.

Book ireland by frank delaney