Tunnel of Mirrors

By: Ferne Arfin

Narrated by: Tony Reynolds

From the very first time you open your eyes, they are all talking at you–telling stories, telling secrets. So why when at last you can make them understand you, are they so surprised that you remember, that you know?

Rachel Isaacson, spirited, otherworldly, and haunted, is born into a rigidly Old World family in New York’s Lower East Side. Hungry for independence, Rachel enters a marriage of convenience with violent consequences.

Across the Atlantic, storyteller, fiddler, and cliff climber Ciaran McMurrough is raised in pastoral innocence on Rathlin off the coast of Ulster. His upbringing in a tight-knit, isolated community leaves him unprepared for the subtle political passions following the Irish Civil War.

Outcasts—one by choice, one by chance—Rachel and Ciaran meet on the docks of lower Manhattan in 1928. Drawn to each other in this lyrical story, they seemed doomed as eternal lovers to repeat a cycle of love and loss.

©2022 Ferne N. Arfin (P)2023 Ferne N. Arfin

Critic reviews

"This novel is quietly, subtly, an epic told on a human scale. From the very beginning, I found myself submerged in early 1900s New York. The setting and the characters were painted in stunning detail as the story of young Rachel unfolds, a girl whose spirit cannot be confined by her rigid Jewish upbringing. She discovers a hidden power in thinking for herself and defying her repressive family. Meanwhile, across the world on a small island off Ireland, we meet Ciaran, a young man who likewise carries a spirit that sets him apart from his own people. That the author so deftly brings these two completely different people and their worlds so authentically to life left me in awe." (Joe Stillman, Academy Award®-nominated screenwriter)

A Story to Savor

i am not usually a fan of love stories so what a wonderful surprise this book was for me. It's no simple love story. It's a saga,--love,history,family.happy times,turbulent times. From the very beginning I was enveloped in the life of the Isaacson family living in New York's Lower East Side in the 1920s and I never wanted to escape.
The writing has been called lyrical and poetic and I can't think of a better way to describe it. Suddenly, I am there, the sights, sounds,smells all resonate with me, the conversations intrigue me ,I want to hear more. I wouldn't have had thought I would be so fascinated by this time or place, but , suddenly ,I am. because almost every sentence is telling me its own story.
And, I meet the amazing Rachel whose mother describes her as her "youngest daughter with the oldest soul" and I am immediately in love with her. She is brave, intuitive, emotional, sometimes funny and always interesting. Despite the restrictions placd n women at that time and despite living with a controlling, strict Orthodox father, Rachel is independent, unrepentant and determined to follow her own path in life.
We are lucky enough to follow that path-- her childhood exploration of New York, walking miles to see the Atlantic Ocean, her first kiss, her steps into womanhood. There are mistakes along the way. Desperate to escape her stifling life with her father, she marries an abusive con man, a decision that will haunt her for years to come. The marriage begins with a solo,lonely honeymoon at Niagara
Falls and is folliwed by years of abuse, violence and unhappiness. The saving grace is the birth of her son Daniel, the love of her life.
There is a sense of mysticism in Rachel's life too. She has "visions," hears her dead grandmother telling her stories , sometimes goes into a trance-- things that make some people call her a witch.
But, this is all woven so seamlessly into the story that it not only doesn't overpower it, instead it feels like a natural part of the story.
Later in the book, we meet the charming and charismatic Ciaran liiving on the small island of Rathlin, off the coast of Northern Ireland. Although a farmer by trade, Ciaran's life is much fuller than that.
He's a fiddle player, a story -teller, a cliff climber-- a man fully in tune with the land and sea around him, He is in "no hurry to get married" and lives happily with his loving mother and her companion, Bertie who is like a father to him.
As we were immersed in the sights and sounds of Rachel's life in New York, the same happens to us in Ireland. We climb the cliffs with Ciaran, listen to the music, hear the conversations with the islanders. And, as with Rachel, there's a sense of mysticism in Ciaran's life too. lrish legends and stories passed down for generations, full of tales of the land and the sea, selkies, mermaids.
But, it is a turbulent time in Ireland; the war for independence has changed the lives of people on the island. And, like Rachel, Ciaran makes a poor decision, puts himself in the wrong place at the wrong time and it's a decision that could have devastating consequences on his life.
He leaves Ireland and thus begins the the journey of the melding of tknowhe lives of Ciaran and Rachel. It is a long journey too, laden with obstacles,surprises and some missed opportunities . But whether or not you believe in destiny, it is a journey you don't want to miss.

Parallel Lives

A lyrical love story that spans the Atlantic Ocean, Tunnel of Mirrors takes the reader back a century to immigrant life in New York City, faithfully evoking the sights and sounds and street life of bygone days.

Rachel, the headstrong daughter, of a stern, religious father, yearns for freedom – yet the only way she can escape him is by marriage to a man she never loved.

Across the water, Ciaran lives by his wits and his brawn, with none to call his own. Years pass, a husband abandons his wife, a child is born from violence, and two souls learn to live with loneliness and disappointment.

Circumstance brings them together in an unexpected way, and this beautifully written tale unfolds in a leisurely, yet suspenseful way. The excellent narrator, Tony Reynolds, succeeds in making the voices of the main characters distinct and compelling.

Lyrical, moving love story, narrated brilliantly

Tunnel of Mirrors is a beautiful, dense, lyrical, moving book. Ferne Arfin’s command of language and imagery is as evocative as poetry.

Tony Reynolds matches her prose with narration that envelops you into the story. This is all the more impressive since he has to bring to life not only his own native Irish dialect but also the cadence and vocabulary of Orthodox Jews in early 20th century New York.

This book is not for everyone. If you want light, breezy reading or something formulaic, you want to pass it over.
But if you are willing to completely immerse yourself into two parallel lives, one in Ireland, the other in New York’s Lower East Side then you should dive into Tunnel of Mirrors.

It is a meticulously crafted story, peppered with ghosts and magic, but it is not a fantasy story. It is a love story in which the lovers don’t meet until well into the second half of the book. But when they do meet, you know them both so well that you fall in love with both of them yourself. It is not erotica but has a love scene you’ll never forget.

Because it is so dense and lyrical, it took me longer to listen to than most books. I had to be in both a place and mindset that I could pay complete attention while listening, but the book was worth every bit of effort.

lovely writing

beautifully written stories. But very slow paced and jumped around too much for me. It was hard to keep track of what was happening.