'Nothing in life prepares you for life, for loss, confusion, accidents, and the consequences of other people's deeds pursuing you.'
How could she have known?
Dublin airport, 1972. Gina, nineteen, too young to be wise, but old enough for love, sex and the repercussions of both, is being borne by the currents of history and habit away from the man she loves. Half Irish, half Bosnian, Stefan is being swept by those same currents towards a different destiny.
At home in America, Gina opts for safety in marriage to Warren who takes her son, Tom, as his own. But her friendship with the noisy, unpredictable Bracken family soon calls her back to her beloved Ireland.
Moving down the decades between the cheerful bedlam of the Bracken family in Ireland, the routine of life in small town Louisiana and the stark horrors of war in Bosnia, 'Banks Of Green Willow' is about the inescapable consequences of 20th century history on commonplace lives. It is a funny, sensuous and at times deeply moving celebration of humanity. But above all, it is an ode to love.
