Book blogging is a serious business. You have to read greedily, rapidly, objectively. So therefore, it was a genuine pleasure to read this. And if I had read it for pleasure, I’d class it as one of the best novels of recent years. I certainly don’t think I’ll read better in
It’s a family story, with Nell and Adrienne about to become parents; with Nell’s life, mirroring that of her Mother Dolores. Measured against this is about forty years of Irish history and how women interact with other women. But it’s broader than that, looking at the fulfilling of fighting with your own past when you could just settle for being happy.
For this of you who like comparisons, it has the wabisabi of Kate Sawyer, with the precision of Anne Enright. And as the latter is one of my favourites, I’ll say that she has that precise, slightly aloof edge to her prose. For her first proper novel, this is a stunning debut. My thanks go to Picador for a review copy. It’s published on April 18th.
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