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Haven by Emma Donoghue was an irresistable and atomospheric novel set in the seventh century southwestern medieval Ireland off the coast of County Kerry. There two jagged islands are seen, the larger Skellig Michael with monks living there since 1044. And this a remarkable tale of three monks who first embark to the island led by a larger-than-life charasmatic leader and a scholar and a priest, Brother Artt. There is a lot of symbolism in this book first represented by the three monks, as in the the trinity. And such an integral part of this story is Ireland's history of early monastic settlements as evidenced by the beautiful Book of Kells housed in Trinity College in Dublin.

"Of course the monks have shared every scrap of information and hearsay. Scholar, priest, hermit, Artt is the most famous visitor to Cluain Mhic Nois in the six years Trian's been here, and possibly in the half century since its founding. Now in its prime, familiar with many tongues, the sage is said to have read every book written, and has copied out dozens. Artt can work complex sums in his mind and chart the tracks of the stars. One of the band of solitairies who've been carrying the light of the Gospel from Ireland across a pagan-gripped continent, this soldier of Christ has converted whole tribes among the Picts, the Franks, even the Lombards."

After a vivid dream, Brother Artt confides to the Abbot that he must embark on this journey with the two monks that were in his dream; his companions are to be Cormac, an elderly monk who came to the abby and his vocation late in life after his wife and family were violently taken from him during the plague, a survivor of many tragedies but bascially one who was skilled in architecture and building as well as gardening. And the second monk was Trian, a young and gangly youthful man that had been dropped off to the monastary six years ago but had learned to adapt to his monastic surroundings.

It is these three men that embark on this perilous journey on the River Shannon to find their haven as they leave all they hold dear behind only leaving room for the sacred sacraments as well as vellum and the quills to write the gospels. It may be a stretch but when one thinks that the Book of Kells was created over 1200 years ago and considered a masterpiece of medieval art, one must pause as it was this period of time that so many remote monastaries throughout Ireland sprang up. There is a lot of scripture and beautiful psalms and hymns to lull one to their journey, but, alas it is not without peril on so many levels. It is through this journey with these three men that this character-driven novel slowly unfolds in a crescendo as it all begins to come together. But it leaves one with so many questions: what is faith? and, whom does one trust?

"The sea is quite glassy as if God poured oil on it. As the red berry of the sun floats up into the sky, Trian can see everything: the silken fabric of the ocean, stretched out smooth with barely a ripple; flocks of voracious cormorants and moaning puffins working the waters."

"Looming over the boat, the Great Skellig's sharp magnificence. To Trian it almost looks as if its rock was formed in flat layers, then the whole thing tipped sideways. 'Every valley shall be lifted up,' Isaiah promises in the Scripture. This tiny, perfect land, stood on end; a bridge to the sky. 'O bringer of good news, go up on the high mountain.'"

"For you are God, my only safe haven. Why have you cast me off?"