Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Grand Central Publishing (2004), Paperback, 368 pages
Description
Fiction. Literature. HTML: Set mainly in Ireland on a dairy farm, Blessed Are the Cheesemakers tells the story of two old men, Joseph "Corrie" Corrigan and Joseph "Fee" Feehan who are the best cheesemakers in the world, and the broken hearted women and whisky-soaked men they rescue in the course of their daily doing. There's a love story, a family story, the lore of cheese-making (fiction or not), and some wonderfully appealing characters, including the cows which only give their top grade product when milked by vegetarian, unwed, pregnant teenagers who sing "The Sound of Music" while at their task. A tender and funny novel with a colorful cast of characters..
User reviews
LibraryThing member Liciasings
This was a beautiful, sweet, charming, enchanting read. Maybe sappy and slightly unbelievable... but creative, quirky, witty, and very loveable!
LibraryThing member readingrat
Pretty standard Brit Chic Lit. Loved the part of the book that dealt with the cheese factory and all the supporting characters; not so much the parts that dealt with our two main characters and their "romance".
LibraryThing member gypsysmom
I really liked this book. The title comes from a quote from Monty Python's Life of Brian so right away it captures the quirkiness of the story. Two Irishmen own one of the strangest cheese making enterprises in the world. Only pregnant unwed vegetarian girls milk the cows, the pasteurizer never
It's a delightful read and full of lots of information about cheesemaking.
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comes in contact with the milk and the quality control consists of the two cheesemakers tasting the cheese each morning. Into their life comes a burned-out New York stockbroker and a granddaughter of one of the men who is escaping from her own problems. It's a delightful read and full of lots of information about cheesemaking.
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LibraryThing member randomarbitrary
I love this book...It's funny and touching and unexpected. The cheesemakers are two old men, who take in pregnant teenagers who milk the cows. I love this book, have owned it since 2004 and have read it at least three times in those two years.
LibraryThing member TanyaTomato
Sure it would be great if everything just worked out so simply, and you could just eat cheese with someone and want to spend the rest of your life with them. This is why you have to read this as a light-hearted and fun story. Also it is a great one to listen to with the Irish brogue.
LibraryThing member buckeyeaholic
This was a great book.
A cheese factory run by 2 colorfull old men (one an unreliable physchic), employing single pregnant (& vegitarian, you must be vegitarian) girls, 2 people running from thier recent pasts & of course secrets abound. Well put together & written. I listened to the audio version
A cheese factory run by 2 colorfull old men (one an unreliable physchic), employing single pregnant (& vegitarian, you must be vegitarian) girls, 2 people running from thier recent pasts & of course secrets abound. Well put together & written. I listened to the audio version
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& the narration was superb! Show Less
LibraryThing member PaperbackPirate
It only took me a week to read this cute, fun story about 2 quirky, old Irish cheese making men. Their dairy farm/cheese making sanctuary is where people who have nowhere else to go wind up. I liked reading all of their little stories, and appreciated the 3 farm cats named Jesus, Mary, and All The
My least favorite part was a weird romance plot between a man taking a stab at sobriety and is 3 months widowed, and a woman who is only weeks out of a crappy, long marriage. Sounds like a disaster to me, but in a book I suppose it has a fair shot at working. Behold, the power of cheese!
It's not a keeper but I will probably read other books by Sarah-Kate Lynch.
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Saints. There is a bit of magic a la Chocolat which I thought was neato.My least favorite part was a weird romance plot between a man taking a stab at sobriety and is 3 months widowed, and a woman who is only weeks out of a crappy, long marriage. Sounds like a disaster to me, but in a book I suppose it has a fair shot at working. Behold, the power of cheese!
It's not a keeper but I will probably read other books by Sarah-Kate Lynch.
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LibraryThing member EmThomas
I happened upon this book in my local library's book sale this weekend, having never heard of the book or the author. I didn't expect to be so touched by the story that I would find myself laughing out loud, frustrated by a character named Kit, and finally clutching my chest as I sobbed at the end.
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Truly a wonderful representation of the healing that happens at the end of the day when you have been let down, when you have let yourself down, and when you hit the bottom and find the strangers in your life picking you up and dusting you off and calling you their family. That it's also a story about cheese making is a bonus to a foodie like me! My only wish is that the story could have gone on! I want to know what happens to the next generation of the blessed cheesemakers! Show Less
LibraryThing member Luli81
This is the story of two haunted souls who feel trapped in their respective lives.
Abbey is living a lie with her husband and Kit is grieving for the loss of his wife.
Abbey is alone in the world except by her eccentric grandfather, an Irish cheesemaker, and Kit has just lost his job because he
They meet in the most unexpected place, a "weird" cheese farm led by two elderly men, one of them Abbey's grandfather, which is more like a charity home for troubled people, especially young pregnant girls who sing to the cows while they milk them in exchange for a bed, food and good-hearted company.
The story reminded me of "Chocolat" or " Fried Green Tomatoes", where food takes a magical role in the story. In this case, the cheese is not coming out right because there's an ingredient lacking, and that's love. Kit and Abbey have to find out for themselves if they are willing to take the risk of loving again.
So, the plot was original, genuine and fairy-tale-like.
Why the two stars then?
I found the first quarter of the book endearing, Abbey and Kit's meeting romantic and touching but the final development was too unbelievably far-fetched. The "romance" lacks depth, the final chapters close the story abruptly and without charm. I turned the last page with a feeling of regret, thinking that this could have been a much better story if only the writer had stuck to the first chapters and finished the novel in a more plausible way.
Abbey is living a lie with her husband and Kit is grieving for the loss of his wife.
Abbey is alone in the world except by her eccentric grandfather, an Irish cheesemaker, and Kit has just lost his job because he
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drinks far too much.They meet in the most unexpected place, a "weird" cheese farm led by two elderly men, one of them Abbey's grandfather, which is more like a charity home for troubled people, especially young pregnant girls who sing to the cows while they milk them in exchange for a bed, food and good-hearted company.
The story reminded me of "Chocolat" or " Fried Green Tomatoes", where food takes a magical role in the story. In this case, the cheese is not coming out right because there's an ingredient lacking, and that's love. Kit and Abbey have to find out for themselves if they are willing to take the risk of loving again.
So, the plot was original, genuine and fairy-tale-like.
Why the two stars then?
I found the first quarter of the book endearing, Abbey and Kit's meeting romantic and touching but the final development was too unbelievably far-fetched. The "romance" lacks depth, the final chapters close the story abruptly and without charm. I turned the last page with a feeling of regret, thinking that this could have been a much better story if only the writer had stuck to the first chapters and finished the novel in a more plausible way.
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LibraryThing member shelleyraec
Quirky and interesting
LibraryThing member Jennifer.Ryan
This is a beautiful book about fate. The Irish background gives intense atmosphere and the story is much deeper than it appears to be.
LibraryThing member Dabble58
To give full context, I'm in the middle of a move, tied up with family concerns, and otherwise surviving the end of a particularly nasty winter. I kept this book out of the packed file because I planned to read it and leave it behind.
Within the first few pages, I realized that there was no way I
It's not a complex story, but it is laced with wisdom, running like a fine line of blue through a cheese. Parts of it have the slightly cheeky smell of a good Stilton. Parts of it glide down the throat like a creamy Brie. All of it fills the heart.
Key thing is, I ended it with a smile on my face, a tear in my eye, a hunger for some really good cheese, and a strong desire to go to Ireland. Or in some way, to head towards where I feel is home.
Loved it.
And I've got to say the title is one of the best I've seen.
Within the first few pages, I realized that there was no way I
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could do that. I have to keep this sweet, loveable book nearby. The magical cheese farm of the Josephs Corrigan and Feehan, with its gaggle of singing pregnant milkmaids and cows that milk best to the Sound of Music, the tales of how to make wonderful cheese, and the many many threads of lives that have been tangled together made me smile, weep, and laugh out loud. I fell in love at the first description of the Princess Grace cheese, languishing in a fridge somewhere and gradually getting more annoyed (and smelly); I smiled with recognition at the earnest husband doing "good works" in a perfectly fine island community for the sole purpose of self-aggrandizement; I loved the townspeople and their antics and stories; I cheered as each character came into their own.It's not a complex story, but it is laced with wisdom, running like a fine line of blue through a cheese. Parts of it have the slightly cheeky smell of a good Stilton. Parts of it glide down the throat like a creamy Brie. All of it fills the heart.
Key thing is, I ended it with a smile on my face, a tear in my eye, a hunger for some really good cheese, and a strong desire to go to Ireland. Or in some way, to head towards where I feel is home.
Loved it.
And I've got to say the title is one of the best I've seen.
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LibraryThing member mchwest
What a fun book! Sarah-Kate kept popping in surprises faster then you could read and enjoy! That hasn't happened to me in a long time, many, many books. So this is not her first book, and I only found it after reading and enjoying THE WEDDING BEES. So, go out and find a copy, awesome summer read.
LibraryThing member CarmenMilligan
I was surprised at how much I liked this book! It was cute, fun, magical and had a nice, if predictable, ending. There were turns and twists that I didn't see coming, as well as giving the always-satisfying tying up of all loose ends. I will rush to get more by this author!
Subjects
Original publication date
2002
Physical description
368 p.; 5.25 inches
ISBN
0446693014 / 9780446693011