Somebody Knows
By Michelle McDonagh
This is only Michelle McDonagh’s second novel, but the Galway native (transplanted to Cork) already has the knack of making it look easy. Journalist Cara Joyce is grieving the imminent loss of her adoptive mother, when she overhears something about her origins that leads her to an old case she thinks about from time to time – the discovery of a young woman’s body in a Connemara bog some thirty years previously. When Cara learns she has family ties to the dead woman, she yearns to find out what really happened. But in doing so, she crosses paths with the powerful Casey family, and they have no interest in unmasking old secrets. In the meantime, she is coping with her grief and trying to manage a busy job and a small child. There’s something so completely realistic about McDonagh’s characters that she just draws you in closer to the ins and outs of her stories. In a country with a very healthy representation of thriller writers, it’s great to add another good one to the mix.
Reality Check
By Vicki Notaro
Vicki Notaro is the latest Irish journalist turned novelist and she proves to be a worthy addition to the ranks, which includes Rachael English, Edel Coffey and Sinead Crowley, to name but a few. Notaro’s Portia Daniels is a screenwriter who lives in Manhattan, but also makes frequent trips to her mother and sister on the west coast, as well as to her boyfriend Jason’s family home in Ireland. She loves her job, her man, and her child-free life. But when Jason confesses that he’s rethinking the whole life without children idea, she realizes that everything she has loved about her life may be about to come crumbling down around her ears. Desperate for some support, she decides to join her mum and sister. It’s not the easiest time for her supermodel-turned-guru sister, either, as is soon evident. Chatty and with a fast-paced style, it’s an enjoyable read – perfect for this time of year.
The Coast Road
By Alan Murrin
Alan Murrin brings us back to small-town Ireland in the 1990s so vividly it’s as if he’s in possession of a time machine. But the only time travel here is through the transportative powers of his engaging prose and his very relatable characters. Colette Crowley, local poet and free spirit is back on the scene. She had left her husband and sons to pursue a relationship in Dublin but is now back in the Donegal village of Ardglas. Her husband isn’t inclined to allow her access to the children, so she tries to recruit another local woman to help. Izzy, married to a politician and the mother of two, finds the restrictions of her life unbearable at times and instinctively feels for Colette. As the story unfolds, there is a wide audience paying very close attention, and the claustrophobia that comes with knowing your every move is being monitored is excellently portrayed by the author. A very convincing portrayal of life, love and unhappiness in a small Irish town.
The Trial
By Jo Spain
Ten years after Dani’s college boyfriend left her asleep one morning and disappeared into thin air, she has moved on with her life. But she has never forgotten Theo, their time together, or all that she did in a desperate effort to find him. Now she has returned to the same college as a history professor and she’s trying not to let familiar faces from that time get to her. Her mother is seriously ill, and the memories of her student time in St. Edmund’s are also filled with happy recollections of time with her mum and Theo. It quickly becomes obvious that St. Edmund’s is sitting on a few secrets – both recent and long-held. Will Dani be any match for them? It’s a very readable thriller, though perhaps not one of Spain’s best.
Free Therapy: Stories
By Rebecca Ivory
You wouldn’t dare say this in literary circles or you might be forcefully ejected, but (whispers) I’m not a huge fan of short stories, usually. The usually is actually the key part of the sentence, because there are definitely short story collections I have absolutely loved. But with many of them, I find, it’s just too easy to skip the story that’s not holding your attention. There wasn’t a scrap of skipping when it came to this new collection by Rebecca Ivory, however – just a thoroughly enjoyable few hours spent with a bunch of women of all ages, and the ordinary peculiarities of their lives, and their understanding of themselves. Sarah and Tara are best friends in competition with each other to see who can lose the most weight; Alison keeps going back for more with her destructive ex; and Jamie just can’t bring herself to have a proper conversation with her father. The stories are a therapy session in and of themselves. This a debut that is self-assured and brilliantly observed – we definitely haven’t heard the last of Rebecca Ivory.
What Happened to Nina?
By Dervla McTiernan
When a young man returns alone from a weekend trip with his girlfriend and says they broke up and she wanted to be alone, his parents accept his explanation at face value. But when her parents start to question where she could be, and why she hasn’t contacted them, the police step in to investigate. All of a sudden, Simon’s story is looking a little thinner and there are inconsistencies he can’t explain. Nina’s parents are pushing the police to do more; his parents hire expensive lawyers and a PR firm to control the social media narrative. All of a sudden, the story goes viral, and armchair detectives are joining in with their theories and suppositions. Dervla McTiernan does an excellent job of ratcheting up the tension, while also keeping the focus firmly on the human beings at the center of the case. One family who would do anything to find their daughter; and the other who will go to equal ends of the earth to keep their son safe. An absolute page-turner!
Ghost Mountain
By Rónán Hession
Like a thief in the night, Ghost Mountain just appears in the village. For some, it’s a site of pilgrimage; for others, it’s a destructive force in their relationships. In gorgeous bite-sized chapters, Rónán Hession brings us more of what we loved in Leonard and Hungry Paul: the ordinary everyday, everyman and everywoman. But he does it in such a deceptively easy way that those light bites add up to a very satisfying meal of a book, the kind of meal we’re still thinking about a couple of days later, wondering how soon we can get back to that restaurant. Like Donal Ryan, another master of the genre, he brings us an Ireland we completely get, characters we could swear we’ve met. He has us feeling for Ocho who misses his wife fiercely. We worry about Ruth who seems to be completely transfixed by Ghost Mountain, to the exclusion of all else. As we observe the various relationships develop (or die), we are grateful for our ringside seat and the very capable hands of our ringmaster Rónán. A thoroughly enjoyable jewel of a story.
Parcels in the Post: Growing Up with Fifty Siblings
By Fiona Neary
Anyone who grew up in 1980s Ireland will be straight back there through the pages of Fiona Neary’s new book, set in a very recognizable Castlebar, Co. Mayo. It’s the must-see TV of Top of the Pops evenings. It’s the smell of the dinners, brilliantly evoked. The rest of us, however, didn’t have the constantly arriving foster children, dropped off at all hours by their social workers, desperate for respite from difficult family backgrounds. Babies, toddlers and older children – each one a story of sadness and separation. For teenage Fiona and her siblings, they were individual puzzles – trying to find out what they liked or who they were. For the reader, it’s the unwavering compassion of Fiona’s late mother Chriss that has the biggest impact. Probably because if you thought too long and too hard about the misery some of the children had previously endured, you would want to scream and break things, much like teenage Fiona wanted to do. Luckily, she managed to channel her strong feelings into a life of important work. And now, giving a voice to some of the dozens of children who landed in the Neary home through the years. We can’t recommend this book highly enough.
My Favorite Mistake
By Marian Keyes
No doubt the legions of Marian Keyes readers who are steadfast fans of her Walsh family escapades will have been on tenterhooks waiting for this latest instalment in the series. This time, it’s sister Anna with whom we are invited to get up close and personal, but the rest of the family are a regular part of the action also. Anna is back from a very successful career in New York, much to her family’s disbelief. She’s also broken up with her long-time partner. Is it a mid-life crisis? Or just another symptom of the burnout she’s been experiencing? Even Anna herself doesn’t have the answer. But when two old friends ask for her help with their newest business venture, she moves to the small coastal town of Maumtully and dives in. Along the way there’s an encounter with an old flame, a potential new flame, and time to think about where life started to go wrong. All delivered in Keyes’s trademark first person musings, which are reminiscent of a friend filling you in on the latest drama. This one has just landed on Mayo library shelves – and we expect lots of interest!
Leave a Reply