Eleventh Night by Steven Penny

Short, Sad Tale of Love During Troubled Times

In this short story, an older man relates the story of his lost love. Their tragic story took place in Northern Ireland in the late 1970s at the height of the Troubles, and the two lovers were from the opposing sides.

The author did a good job of writing this tale as if it were actually told by a slightly drunk older gentleman to a young man in a pub. It has a feeling of conversation that rings true (even if it is one sided). I don’t think that is easy to attain, but this author makes it work. Unfortunately, there seem to be many issues with grammar, punctuation, and usage, so much that it actually did distract as I was reading. Commas were particularly problematic, and I thought there should have been more paragraph breaks in certain areas.

I actually think that the story of the original lovers would make a fantastic novella or novel from what is hinted at in the older gentleman’s story. Short or long, I think stories like this are good to remind the people of the perils of history so it is not repeated.