So this is a little awkward. I listened to the audiobook of this short story twice yesterday and really had no connection with it whatsoever. When my first go round ended I felt like I missed something, so I listened again. And here I am still drawing a blank. As a seasonal reader, I had it marked to pick up in December since "The Shortest Day" is in reference to the shortest day of the year during the Winter Solstice... in December. But it's not holly or jolly or anything like that. It's about

‘’Thus, it was the strangeness of the night sky and the seasons that they loved and missed, the strangeness of fire and water, the strangeness they noted in each other.’’ It is Christmas and there is magic in the air for children and adults. For the professor of our story, this is the time to discover the answer to a riddle that has been haunting him for far too long. The burial chamber of Newgrange, a site older than Stonehedge, older than the Pyramids, a secret place that fiercely protects

A superbly written novella set during the Winter Solstice at Newgrange, an archeological jewel in Ireland. I loved the way the past and the present interconnect and are bound by the secrets. Another grand offering by the Author whose writing I follow and enjoy.*Many thanks to Colm Toibin, Amazon Original Stories, and NetGalley for arc in exchange for my honest review.*

4 "science meets spirit" stars !Thank you to Netgalley, the author and Amazon Original stories for an e-copy of this short story in exchange for my honest review. The publication date is November 2020 and it took me about twenty five minutes to read this story.Professor O'Kelley is an archaeologist, a man of science who studies with joy and enthusiasm what is in front of him and does not make inferences about the ancient burial tomb and culture that he has studied for many years in rural Ireland...

Short story by a master. An archeologist is working at Newgrange, the burial grave and World Heritage Site in Ireland, older than Stonehenge and the pyramids. He has decided to visit the site at the winter solstice, which none in his profession has ever done. Others will be there though. None alive.A lovely tale of dignity and respect, tolerance and promises made, among the living and the dead.

This is a wonderfully atmospheric short story from Colm Toibin set in Ireland, featuring a man of reason and logic, who puts his faith in facts and evidence, entertaining no speculations or fantasies, the archaeologist Professor O'Kelly from Cork. He is writing his notes on a passage tomb from the Neolithic period around 3200BC on a site above the River Boyne at Newgrange. Over time, he has become obsessive about the sacred burial chamber, taking down every small detail and drawings of the carvi...

Confession: I’m not a big fan of short stories. It’s not that I’ve never read a short story I’ve enjoyed, but I haven’t taken the time to determine which qualities the stories I like have in common. I think it might be that they have a clear ironic twist, or that they are short, or both, but I’m not sure. I recently read The Overstory which begins with nine segments that read as short stories. I thoroughly enjoyed those, but I think that may have been because they were all clearly linked and mov...

Real Rating: 4.75* of fiveThe Yule Solstice, a time of great power in Neolithic societies (if the number of archaeological sites with demonstrable connections to the Sun's position on that date is any evidence), has come to his attention as an important time at Newgrange as well. He feels duty bound, as the first archaeologist to possess this information, to investigate despite his unshakeable materialism:The job of an archaeologist was to make known only what can be proved. The rest was idle sp...

”In the depths of the burial chamber, there were whispers among the dead that the professor was coming again.” Professor O’Kelly, an archaeologist from Cork, anticipated spending time over his Christmas break working at, Newgrange, a site that was older “than the Pyramids and older than Stonehenge.” He lectured on, studied, and revered Newgrange. “He often felt that he was dealing not with a ruin or a set of remnants but with a living, breathing spirit.” In the numerous times he had visited the

A very short book, not much more than a short story, and one that would be quite magical to read at Christmas time. I love ancient sites like the one in this story. They are often very atmospheric and so it was easy to go along with the premise of the ancient souls communing with one another.

This morning I read a compelling review of this novella. I decided to download with audio, a free choice with Prime. I was thoroughly mesmerized by Toibin's beautiful descriptive writing. So if you have a little time to relax and read or listen to this interesting story set in Ireland, I highly recommend this as a choice. You won't be sorry.

Professor O'Kelly is working on Newgrange, a Neolithic burial site, and he takes his work very seriously, never allowing any rumor or speculation to influence what he learns by analyzing the physical evidence he unearths in his job. Yet, he recognizes Newgrange has a complexity and an intensity that make him want to know more, to one day uncover the key to its secrets. But can he and those living near the excavation really hope to understand those lying under the stones and their beliefs when th...

“It was the winter secret of those who had lived thousands of years before. They must have loved the sun, or trusted it. They lured it down this corridor as though they were pulling it into the chamber by rope.”What a delightful short story by the master Irish storyteller, Colm Toibin. Beautifully told, in simple but stunning prose, this exceeded my expectations and has set the bar at what I think a short story should be like. In reading other reviews, I found that they are all telling you what

A very likeable story, and I'm glad I heard of it, though I found a few of the details unsatisfying. I read two friends' reviews of this before I listened to it, and afterwards, my opinion falls somewhere between them. I might also know a bit too much about archaeology not to nitpick, and to find some of the professor's thoughts, as written by Tóibín, rather elementary and sounding more like a sixth-former who wants to do an archaeology degree, or a professor in a children's book, than a career