Kenneally, Christy

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Kenneally, Christy

PERSONAL:

Married. Education: National University of Ireland, B.A., B.Div.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Wicklow, Ireland.

CAREER:

Television presenter, scriptwriter, and author. Owner of a management training company.

WRITINGS:

The Joseph Coat and Other Patches, Dalton (Dublin, Ireland), 1977.

Out Foreign and Back, Dalton (Dublin, Ireland), 1979.

Strings and Things: Poems and Other Messages for Children, Paulist Press (New York, NY), 1984.

Miracles and Me: A Poem for Children, Paulist Press (New York, NY), 1986.

Maura's Boy: A Cork Childhood, Mercier Press (Dublin, Ireland), 1996.

Life after Loss: Helping the Bereaved, Mercier Press (Dublin, Ireland), 1999.

Second Son, Hodder Headline Ireland (Dublin, Ireland), 2005.

Small Wonders, Mercier Press (Douglas Village, Cork, Ireland), 2005.

The Remnant, Hodder Headline Ireland (Dublin, Ireland), 2006.

Writer of several television series about world religion, including Heaven on Earth and Na Déithe Caillte ("The Lost Gods").

SIDELIGHTS:

Christy Kenneally is a prominent television presenter in his native Ireland, and has written and hosted a number of Irish television series. Kenneally has also written a number of books, several of which have been featured on Ireland's best-seller lists. His first novel, Second Son, rose to the third spot on the Irish best- seller list. Described as a "ridiculously far fetched" yet "well-written, fast paced thriller" by a Bibliofemme reviewer, the novel follows a New York priest named Michael Flaherty, who returns to the small Irish island where he spent his youth to search for his missing younger brother. He finds that the once simple way of life has been complicated by the establishment of an American fish factory. The Remnant, Kenneally's second work of fiction, also features Flaherty and a story that spans both sides of the Atlantic. A secret group called the Remnant is working from within the Vatican to commandeer the papacy in the dying pope's last days. The group is also responsible for the murders of a number of priests and nuns. Flaherty works with allies in both Italy and New York in an attempt to solve the murders and save the pope's life. A contributor to Kirkus Reviews commented that the novel provides "agreeable thrills and a few pleasant peeks into Italian domestic life."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Kirkus Reviews, December 15, 2006, review of The Remnant, p. 1236.

ONLINE

Bibliofemme,http://www.bibliofemme.com/ (October 11, 2007), review of Second Son.

Personally Speaking Web site,http://www.personallyspeaking.ie/ (October 11, 2007), author profile.

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