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Finding Tom Connor
Fast-paced, wickedly funny and full of zest, this is popular columnist Sarah-Kate Lynch's debut novel, the first of a string of works that will make you cry and laugh out loud.
Molly Brown is having what you might call a shit day. Her wedding dress has just revealed it can't contain more than one bosom and the gorgeous man she was about to marry has just revealed that more than one is his favourite number too. If you're talking about women, that is.
In a desperate bid to escape her life as it horribly unravels before her eyes, Molly escapes to the other side of the world with her $4000 wedding dress and her terrifying aunt Vivian. She embarks on a rollercoaster ride through the Irish countryside in search of her long-lost uncle. When she arrives in the seemingly sleepy seaside town of Ballymahoe, she has greasy hair, a fractured arm, a broken heart, three extra kilos and no time at all for the charm of the locals . . .
Molly Brown is having what you might call a shit day. Her wedding dress has just revealed it can't contain more than one bosom and the gorgeous man she was about to marry has just revealed that more than one is his favourite number too. If you're talking about women, that is.
In a desperate bid to escape her life as it horribly unravels before her eyes, Molly escapes to the other side of the world with her $4000 wedding dress and her terrifying aunt Vivian. She embarks on a rollercoaster ride through the Irish countryside in search of her long-lost uncle. When she arrives in the seemingly sleepy seaside town of Ballymahoe, she has greasy hair, a fractured arm, a broken heart, three extra kilos and no time at all for the charm of the locals . . .
- GenresFiction
343 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2000
9 people are currently reading
157 people want to read
About the author
Sarah-Kate Lynch
17 books281 followersSarah-Kate Lynch is quite a cranky journalist of several decades who prefers making things up to recording them accurately. This is not very good if you are a journalist, which may explain (a) the crankiness and (b) why she now writes novels.
She also writes two columns in the New Zealand Woman's Day, New Zealand's best-selling weekly magazine. One is about nothing and the other is about travel.
Sarah-Kate lives in a cliff top house on the wild west coast of New Zealand's North Island with a lovely dog called Ginger and a husband called Ted. Oh, hang on, no, that's not right. The dog is called Ted and the husband is Ginger.
She also writes two columns in the New Zealand Woman's Day, New Zealand's best-selling weekly magazine. One is about nothing and the other is about travel.
Sarah-Kate lives in a cliff top house on the wild west coast of New Zealand's North Island with a lovely dog called Ginger and a husband called Ted. Oh, hang on, no, that's not right. The dog is called Ted and the husband is Ginger.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
June 2, 2010
It was probably bad timing reading this book after "Olivia Joules and the overactive imagination" because Molly really got on my wick. I'd had enough of stupid females, especially one who wears a wedding dress for days on end and takes no other clothing with her on an overseas trip. I found that completely ludicrous and it annoyed me no end. Aside from that it was an ok read but it was unfortunate to have to wade through pages and pages to reach a very brief epilogue to tie things up. I was disappointed.
November 16, 2024
It was probably bad timing reading this book after "Olivia Joules and the overactive imagination" because Molly really got on my wick. I'd had enough of stupid females, especially one who wears a wedding dress for days on end and takes no other clothing with her on an overseas trip. I found that completely ludicrous and it annoyed me no end. Aside from that it was an ok read but it was unfortunate to have to wade through pages and pages to reach a very brief epilogue to tie things up. I was disappointed.
January 7, 2018
Funny, witty and a great holiday read!
Loved it, awesome story - hilarious. Have read this twice now and would not hesitate to recommend ....will be reading more from Sarah-Kate Lynch
Loved it, awesome story - hilarious. Have read this twice now and would not hesitate to recommend ....will be reading more from Sarah-Kate Lynch
June 3, 2018
Great read.
November 30, 2014
2.5 stars
I believe this is Lynch's debut book. I've read a couple others of hers, published after this one, and I can see the growth in her writing. I really enjoyed the other two for the theme she built the story around. She attempted to do that in this book as well but as with any writer she grew into it and her later books reflect that.
Molly is set to marry Jack in a few days and is doing one last dress fitting. Unfortunately she finds out the dress fits but the fiance doesn't. After Jack is exposed for who he really is and Molly exerts some energy letting others know how hurt she is, the wedding is called off. So the wedding is off, the relationship is off, but the wedding dress is staying on. Molly won't take it off. I never did quite understand why she wouldn't and I'm not sure Lynch even knew herself why she had Molly continue to wear it. Through a series of hungover and emotional decisions, Molly finds herself jetting off to Ireland with her Aunt Vivienne in search of an Uncle they just discovered they have. Once reaching Ireland and using land travel to get to the town of Ballymahoe, a series of unfortunate events happens to Molly. When she finally ends up in Ballymahoe she comes face to face with one of her unfortunate events during the trip. A side story that starts before Molly's story and speeds up to intersect to hers is the story of Ballymahoe's draw to the general public. Virgin Mary was sighted in 1969 and the town has been living off continued sightings for years. But she hasn't appeared in about a month, is it the new priest who has run her off or did she move on for other reasons? If the town loses her then they lose their businesses and livelihood's but not if someone can come up with another way to keep Ballymahoe on the map. Sometimes fate is a little messy and a lot chaotic before it delivers.
Like I said at the beginning, Lynch has grown quite a bit as an author and this work reflects that if read after some of her later work. For that reason I enjoyed reading it because I enjoy seeing and recognizing growth in an author. Everyone has to start somewhere right? Lynch's character development is decent in this title and her settings are authentic in feel. It was not my favorite of the books she has written but neither was it a bad read. I'm glad that I had read a couple of her later works before this one so I knew ahead of reading this what her potential is in later titles.
I believe this is Lynch's debut book. I've read a couple others of hers, published after this one, and I can see the growth in her writing. I really enjoyed the other two for the theme she built the story around. She attempted to do that in this book as well but as with any writer she grew into it and her later books reflect that.
Molly is set to marry Jack in a few days and is doing one last dress fitting. Unfortunately she finds out the dress fits but the fiance doesn't. After Jack is exposed for who he really is and Molly exerts some energy letting others know how hurt she is, the wedding is called off. So the wedding is off, the relationship is off, but the wedding dress is staying on. Molly won't take it off. I never did quite understand why she wouldn't and I'm not sure Lynch even knew herself why she had Molly continue to wear it. Through a series of hungover and emotional decisions, Molly finds herself jetting off to Ireland with her Aunt Vivienne in search of an Uncle they just discovered they have. Once reaching Ireland and using land travel to get to the town of Ballymahoe, a series of unfortunate events happens to Molly. When she finally ends up in Ballymahoe she comes face to face with one of her unfortunate events during the trip. A side story that starts before Molly's story and speeds up to intersect to hers is the story of Ballymahoe's draw to the general public. Virgin Mary was sighted in 1969 and the town has been living off continued sightings for years. But she hasn't appeared in about a month, is it the new priest who has run her off or did she move on for other reasons? If the town loses her then they lose their businesses and livelihood's but not if someone can come up with another way to keep Ballymahoe on the map. Sometimes fate is a little messy and a lot chaotic before it delivers.
Like I said at the beginning, Lynch has grown quite a bit as an author and this work reflects that if read after some of her later work. For that reason I enjoyed reading it because I enjoy seeing and recognizing growth in an author. Everyone has to start somewhere right? Lynch's character development is decent in this title and her settings are authentic in feel. It was not my favorite of the books she has written but neither was it a bad read. I'm glad that I had read a couple of her later works before this one so I knew ahead of reading this what her potential is in later titles.
December 31, 2014
I've been busy with the holidays so it's been a couple of weeks since I finished this, just didn't get around to reviewing.
I don't actually have too much to say about it.
It was a really fun read. I enjoyed the characters and the two separate plot lines and how ultimately they weaved together at the end. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what one had to do with the other so to see it all come together was quite fun.
I enjoyed Molly's story immensely. I kept finding myself wanting to think that it was too much, that no one had that much bad luck but she was so fun to follow along with and cheer for that I found myself entirely going along with it even as bad thing after bad thing happened. Not to mentioned, I loved that she rocked the wedding dress the entire book...such a Miss Havisham move and it worked really well. She was a great character.
The aunt annoyed me at times. She seemed a little too mean and heartless and the explanation as to why was a little too much cliche. But overall, I enjoyed her.
My biggest, and really only full complaint is that I found the ending came a little too quick. Like things with the guy she ended up with (name withheld due to spoilers) went from bad to good like that and we jumped to the epilogue without ever seeing it resolved. Don't skip the big kiss, authors, just...don't.
But really it was overall an enjoyable read.
I don't actually have too much to say about it.
It was a really fun read. I enjoyed the characters and the two separate plot lines and how ultimately they weaved together at the end. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what one had to do with the other so to see it all come together was quite fun.
I enjoyed Molly's story immensely. I kept finding myself wanting to think that it was too much, that no one had that much bad luck but she was so fun to follow along with and cheer for that I found myself entirely going along with it even as bad thing after bad thing happened. Not to mentioned, I loved that she rocked the wedding dress the entire book...such a Miss Havisham move and it worked really well. She was a great character.
The aunt annoyed me at times. She seemed a little too mean and heartless and the explanation as to why was a little too much cliche. But overall, I enjoyed her.
My biggest, and really only full complaint is that I found the ending came a little too quick. Like things with the guy she ended up with (name withheld due to spoilers) went from bad to good like that and we jumped to the epilogue without ever seeing it resolved. Don't skip the big kiss, authors, just...don't.
But really it was overall an enjoyable read.
January 4, 2010
FINDING TOM CONNOR by Sarah-Kate Lynch
Molly is trying on her wedding dress, when through the ground level changing room gap she sees a very sexy pair of red high heels standing very close to a pair of very familiar looking men's shoes. With her wedding dreams and her future life of wedded bliss and lots of children in tatters, wearing only her dress and a pair of Doc Martens, she flees from Auckland to Ireland with her very wealthy career woman aunt in the search for a long lost uncle/brother by the name of Tom Connor. Parallel to all this and in alternate chapters is the story of the inhabitants of a small Irish village that finds itself the center of religious fervour as the result of a sighting of the Virgin Mary, who then proceeds to show herself at 4pm every day. You wonder when or even if these two wildly disparate plots will ever join, and eventually in a roundabout protracted sort of journey they do. With some great stories and episodes in the meantime. Thoroughly enjoyable story with the hapless Molly coming to grips with her imploded life, and the aunt also discovering a side of herself she had lost touch with. Excellent book to take on holiday, a good story told with much warmth, affection for the subject and lots of humour.
March 24, 2013
Although Sarah-Kate Lynch's books these days all have a mouth-watering theme, her earliest work, Finding Tom Connor, is equally satisfying. From the first page, I was riveted by the unexpected twists and turns, unable to imagine where we were going next. I couldn't put this book down. It was so fun and heartbreaking and uplifting and inspiring and silly and well, delicious. It's really a shame that no US-publishing house picked this one up so readers in the US could enjoy this book as much as I did. Lynch is one of my very favorite authors. If you're a fan of excellent writing and a fabulous trip across the globe, you'll enjoy every moment as you, toom search for Tom Connor.
July 11, 2011
This was mad but enjoyable. Nice to read something that references NZ people and places.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews