'This writer from Mullingar just gets better and better'
This week there’s a new YA romantasy novel, there’s a novel set in war-torn Iraq, there’s Jojo Moyes’ latest family drama, Mullingar-based Patricia Gibney’s latest Lottie Parker murder mystery and a novel set in mid-19th century Birmingham.
The Guilty Girl, Patricia Gibney, Bookouture, €15.99
The novel opens with a typical teenagers’ drink-n-drugs blowout. Lucy McAllister is hosting a party at her house while her parents are on holiday abroad. One of her invited guests is Hannah Byrne, although it transpires that Hannah was only invited so Lucy could humiliate her. Which she does. On the morning after the party, Lucy is found dead in her home. And Lottie Parker, in Gibney’s 11th book, is assigned the case. Everyone at the party is a suspect and unfortunately that includes Lottie’s teenage son Sean, who snuck out without her knowledge and then accidentally left his jacket in Lucy’s. Hannah, though, is found to have Lucy’s bloodstained clothes hidden in her bedroom. The girl is distraught because she remembers almost nothing of the party. The other kids, too, seem to have been too drunk or drugged or both to recall anything useful. Meanwhile Lottie is struggling with her house renovations and the absent Boyd, who’s still in Spain on a family matter. Longer than the other Lottie Parker novels, this complex whodunnit really delivers and this writer from Mullingar just gets better and better.
A Fix of Light, Kel Menton, Little Island, €10.99
A novel that’s definitely for the older end of the YA market, the story opens with young Hanan in the forest outside his home town, intent on dying. But he meets Pax, a boy who’s as full of light as Hanan feels himself full of darkness. And then the magic happens. It’s a same-sex love story/ fantasy/ coming of age novel with a generous sprinkling of magic that examines the difficult phases of adolescence as these boys attempt to find their place in the world.
Fundamentally, Nussaibah Yunis, W&N, €18.99
The rehabilitation of ISIS brides and the efforts to resettle them into mainstream society wouldn’t immediately strike one as grist for a comedy mill. Unless it’s in the hands of someone who has worked in this area for years and who happens to be a gifted writer. It’s 2019 and Londoner Nadia has joined the UN’s fledgling UNDO squad (even the acronym is funny, but I’m not spilling). She has landed in Iraq intent on helping these ISIS wives, many of them escapees. It’s a grim task. But meeting Sara, a camp resident and an ISIS bride from London, makes Nadia all the more determined in her mission. She has a lot to learn about how things are done in Iraq, and indeed how they’re done in the various international NGOs. Apart from being a cracking story, it’s a real education as well, and utterly convincing. And if you think Irish administrations are lacking somewhat in transparency, well…
It’s a superb novel on so many levels, a scalding assessment of international aid, a taste of what it’s like to grow up English and Muslim, there are multiple themes, multiple layers, all encapsulated in a story that begins: ‘It’s not like I was expecting Stalingrad, but Baghdad took the piss.’ Original, caustic, informative, hysterically funny, don’t miss this.
We All Live Here, Jojo Moyes, Michael Joseph, €16.99
Moyes is another author who doesn’t spare the laughs, often in poignant scenes, and it’s one of the reasons she cuts across all genres and has fans in all kinds of readers. In her latest, the Kennedy household consists of mother Lila, who wrote a book about having a successful and secure marriage. Then her husband walked out. There’s Lila’s health-obsessed but kindly stepfather Bill, all lentils and fish oils and odd vegetarian stews that her kids hate. The kids are teenager Celie, who has stopped going to school altogether, although Lila doesn’t know that at first, and Violet, who’s nine years old, sings age-inappropriate rapper songs and is full of devilment. When Lila’s biological father, an American actor named Gene, lands on her doorstep, she’s not only flabbergasted but wonders how she can possibly keep all of these plates spinning in the air. Especially as she’s supposed to be writing a follow-up to her first book, hasn’t written a word and can’t think of a word to write. A touching family saga and a hoot at times, this is vintage Moyes, who to date has sold 57 million books.
The Pearl Button Girl, Annie Murray, Pan, €13.05
There’s a fascinating prologue to this novel, with its title ‘Workshop of the World, A Birmingham Poem’ and a list of everything that was manufactured in 19th century Birmingham ensues, across three pages. Gob-smacking is what it is, the realisation that at some stage or other, Birmingham was making practically everything the human race could think of, from cut glass to guns. After that lavish treat, we follow the fortunes of Ada Fletcher, who works at the local pearl button factory in Birmingham, the oldest of five children. When tragedy strikes, Ada narrowly misses being sent to the workhouse orphanage, where her four siblings end up. She is taken in by neighbour Sarah Connell, who has far too many children and not enough money, a situation exacerbated by her deteriorating alcoholism. Aida soon realises that she’s effectively on her own and has no idea how she will fulfil her dream of rescuing her siblings from the orphanage and uniting her family again. This is gritty urban drama, set in the cruellest years of the Industrial Revolution, when both life and labour were cheap. The first in a series, exhaustively researched, this novel is set in the author’s hometown.
Footnotes
A new Guinness and Oyster Festival is being launched in Howth this coming weekend, February 28 to March 2, featuring some great music and a bit of coastal foraging. See allshuckedup.ie for details.
A week of non-stop drama runs in Cavan’s Townhall Arts Centre, from Saturday 1 March to the 8th, featuring drama groups from around the country and a different play every night. See townhallartscentre.com for tickets.