Reviews of Ferulas and Thuribles
If you read the book please let me know what you think by sending your thoughts using the form at the bottom of this page.
There are also extended reviews which can be read here.
John Mulholland’s excellent book recounts his experiences at Stonyhurst, both good and bad. Readers will be amused, surprised and sometimes appalled by what occurred there. Much of it is quite moving without being sentimental. Also interesting for me is how some at Stonyhurst clung to the traditions of an earlier age, while the school was being dragged – often kicking and screaming – into a more modern world. That background ‘conflict’, reflecting the rapid social and cultural changes of the 1960s, adds an interesting context to a schoolboy’s very entertaining memoir.
Charlie Peters
Playwright, Hollywood screenwriter, director and novelist, California
A humorous, subversive and engaging account as the author navigates his way through the absurdities of boarding schools in the 1960s. I can vouch for the accuracy, as I shared the journey with John for two years at his prep school and a year at Stonyhurst. He vividly describes the eccentric personalities and slightly mad, long-gone cultures we endured, and even enjoyed. This well-written memoir shows that truth is, indeed, stranger than fiction.
Peter Law
OS, sub-sea & certification engineer, Viet Nam
The author revisits joyful and tragic events with confidence and honesty as he explores the past like a cultured tourist returning to his native country rich in experience…an exceptional testimony of boarding school experience in the 1960s.
Dr Annie Demeyere
Novelist, France
I was in the same class as the author for much of our time at Stonyhurst where we became firm friends. I can very much relate to this memoir and am impressed by the way John has reported events factually but leaves us, the readers, to come to our own conclusions. Also John has included the memories of our contemporaries and these greatly enhance the narrative.
Bernard Moroney
Clinical director – dentistry, UK
John is a very considerable wordsmith and has a particular talent for bringing to life events and characters from the past. He had painted a remarkably clear picture of the atmosphere of our shared time together and has done so with much humour. It was a delight to be transported back to those days.
Dr John O’Driscoll
Former Irish rugby international, British Lions player & consultant dermatologist, UK