The Scottish Prisoner, by Diana Gabaldon

Hmm, I need to reread the "Companion" to see how this fits in and to figure out...a bunch of stuff. Anyway, this is about Lord John and Jamie going to Ireland to stop an Irish plot to restart the rebellion that ended at Culloden. A bit silly, but the story is less important than John and Jamie equalizing their relationship. This is also prior to John's marriage, so Jamie is still living at Helwater as the (paroled) prisoner of the title.

Mothers and Sons, by Colm Tóibín

Very weird book of short stories about the relationship between mothers and sons. I hope to God mine is never as messed up as some of these are. The majority of the stories are Irish, but there is one novella which takes place in rural Spain around the time of the Civil War.

This is not a happy book. Not at all. There are no answers, no pretty endings (and damn few pretty scenes of any kind), just a lot of bleakness. I can't get the scene of several art masterpieces going up in smoke because it's too much of a hassle to fence them. Aaarghh!

The novella is good. Sad, bleak, hopeless in parts, but good. There's a lot of subterranean symbolic stuff going on there, and it actually ends on a note of desolate hopefulness.