There are two kinds of people who won't want to miss reading "Feel the Magic!", a rollicking tale by Bill Soisson, a wise-cracking sixty-year-old man who sets out to conquer the Emerald Isle on a bicycle. As Bill takes to the road for a month-long assault, there is no doubt in his mind that he can indeed conquer the place.
But many things can happen in a month, and after dozens of encounters with the irresistible Gaels who call themselves Irish, Soisson comes to realize that instead of conquering, he has been clearly bested. All along his vagabond way the Irish have out-wisecracked, outsmarted, outlaughed and outloved him. He has been enslaved by the affections of a host of delightful characters who regularly take smart-alec strangers and bring them to heel with large doses of blarney, twice-told tales, and patented put-downs. Morever, he has been deeply moved by the history of that poetic people.
Most remarkable, though, is that the author, put to a test by wit or kindness at every turn for a solid month, has loved every moment of it equally, the humbling as well as the exalting. And by the time his story has been told, you sense that he will never again be quite the same brash man who landed in Dublin. He has been touched by many people, in ways ranging from riotously funny to deeply emotional. Each experience has been different, but each has been very human, and very...well, Irish. In the end, when he leaves that enchanted land, he is overcome with the mysterious feeling that the butcher in Dublin was right on the mark when he said, "Who do you think sent you here, and do you think it was just for a piece of meat?"
Filled with colorful historical background, peopled by warm characters and impish fairies, "Feel the Magic" is a story that anyone who hasn't yet been to Ireland won't want to miss.
But who are the others? Didn't I say there are two kinds of people who won't want to miss reading this book?
Yes, I did. The others, of course, are those who have been to Ireland!
