The story of Michael Doolan and his development to manhood is appropriately set against the wide background of the Gulf Country in the north of Australia. For Michael's growth from childhood and adolescence, and his long search for his father, Paddy Doolan, is told with a largeness of dimension that is one of the most striking features of this excellent novel. Elizabeth O'Conner is well-known for her light-hearted and deservedly popular book, Steak for Breakfast. In this novel she has moved on to a subject that gives more scope to her unquestioned powers.
"Michael is disturbed in childhood by the conflicts that his father seems inevitably to generate - in his family relationships and with his fellow-townsmen. When, later, his living as a teamster is threatened by the advent of motor-transport, Paddy Doolan goes to the coast to sell his team, and Michael, realizing that his father will never return, sets out on his long search for him. Michael's inarticulate, determined development is emphasized by his father's inherent weaknesses, and also by the decline of the township where they live before the family breaks up. The gold-mines give out, the town declines in prosperity, and its people drift away. It is as though the fortunes of most of the people in the book are shaped and broken by time, whereas Michael, monosyllabic, loyal, and stubborn, shapes his own fortunes. Elizabeth O'Conner's sense of the dramatic is balanced by her sensitivity and compassion as she traces the fine threads that bind character to character.
Of The Irishman, Eleanor Dark has said: “Elizabeth O'Conner has the gift of conveying much in a few words; without elaborate analysis, she creates real people, and without overmuch description, she shows a vivid and authentic scene. The perception, tolerance and humour with which she tells her story and reveals her characters make this a book which is often moving, but never sentimental.” (from dustjacket)
