'A whole different type of love on offer here from Esther'
For the week that’s in it, maybe a romance novel or two might be of interest? Here are some non-standard love stories.
Love and Other Liabilities, Fiona McCann Poolbeg, €17.99
In this funny and heartwarming debut, Lily Barrett returns to her island homeplace off the coast of Cork to sell her recently deceased grandmother’s house. She needs the money; life in London is not going as planned. She’s heavily in debt and about to lose her flat. But returning to the island also means inevitably bumping into an old flame she hasn’t seen for a decade. And everything that can possibly go wrong about this whole trip goes wrong! Lily has brought her mad friend Cassandra along for the ride, and Cassandra takes to the island like a duck to water. Or maybe like an islander to water?
McCann’s depiction of this tiny community and how they handle Lily’s return is pure comedy, very Irish and smalltown in its humour, but all the richer for it. A thoroughly enjoyable jaunt and an accomplished debut.
The Lock-Keeper’s Wife, John McKenna, Lilliput €15.95
Out Thursday February 19, and an absolute treasure of a book, is John McKenna’s The Lock-Keeper’s Wife. This story, like Fiona McCann’s (above), involves a tiny rural community but there’s not much comedy here. Rather there’s the oppression of 1950s Ireland as witnessed by Julia McDermot, recently discharged from The Mental (psychiatric hospital) and returning to a loveless marriage in her rural Kildare home, where her frequently drunk husband is the lock-keeper on the local stretch of the canal network. Their two grown children are gone, working and living in London, their two stillborns are buried in the back field, where Julia tends to their graves daily.
An English widower on holidays passes through on a hired barge, but not without leaving Julia indelibly changed and questioning every facet of her life. She was admitted to The Mental for nothing – as was customary in Ireland back then if your husband got fed up with you – but she simply cannot live out the rest of her days in this woebegone marriage. Nor can she just bunk off to England, because she would be leaving her babies behind in the back field. This is exquisite storytelling with the changing of the seasons, beautifully depicted, echoing a stirring in Julia for change. It’s a delicate and fraught story, in a similar vein to Sebastian Barry’s The Secret Scripture, and it’s not to be missed.
Esther is Now Following You, Tanya Sweeney, Bantam, €15.99
There’s a whole different type of love on offer here from Esther. It’s the kind of love that was creepily depicted in Baby Reindeer on Netflix. But while Baby Reindeer was narrated from the victim’s point of view, this story is told entirely by the stalker, Esther, who may just be this year’s most unreliable narrator. When she decides to fixate on Ted, a Canadian bit-part actor, and follow him on social media, her life spins out of control faster than you can say ‘fangirl’. And the only issue I have with this story is that Esther’s not a girl. She’s a married woman in her 30s. Old enough to know better. Or maybe I’m out of touch.
When a last attempt at pregnancy fails, something breaks in Esther. So, while much of this novel is outrageously funny, it’s also clear that depression, loss and grief are at the root of Esther’s problems. And it’s a creepy kind of reminder of what can happen to a person if they don’t address their personal demons. Esther becomes a demon herself. She eventually ends up in Canada and within Ted’s inner sanctum, ‘befriending’ his sister and girlfriend. To say more would be to spoil, but this novel is, among other things, testament to the damage social media can do to fragile people, along with the cult of celebrity. It’s the story of a crazed, unfathomable kind of ‘love’ and both an entertaining and a sobering read.
Nothing Good Happens After 2am, Niamh Hargan, Harper Collins, €15.99
If a long, slow burn of a love story is your cup of tea, then this is ideal. In 2005 Robbie Saunders, a Belfast boy and Oxford graduate, is drawn to a tiny speakeasy in London whose cocktails are their specialty. He gets a job there and meets El Tippet, London born and bred. Neither character comes from a happy background, Robbie has witnessed Belfast violence and was raised in a bigoted Orange household. El is the only child of a broken marriage where there wasn’t much parenting going on. Robbie has a fiancée and El has a girlfriend. So far, so unlikely for the pairing of our principal characters. But this isn’t really a story about pairing off, it’s more about the struggles of Robbie and El as they navigate their different lives through 20 years of this unhinged century, while becoming celebrity cocktail makers.
Robbie marries his fiancée and eventually El moves in with her mother in California, but somehow fate keeps throwing them together. Will they? Won’t they? How could they possibly? Like I said, if it’s a long, slow burn you’re after…
Rembrandt’s Promise, Barbara Leahy, Bonnier, €14.99
This historical love story, based on fact, might challenge the reader to think again about the painter of such world-renowned images and might also prompt the question; should we forgive geniuses for their personal shortcomings or should they be made live by the same moral code as us mere earthlings? Geertje, a widow in need of work and money, gets a job as a nursemaid in Rembrandt’s home and after the death of his wife, Geertje becomes his lover, despite obvious red flags. He eventually throws her out and she sues him for maintenance. So he has her imprisoned. But there’s more. Much more. And it’s all beautifully told in this remarkable novel of love, revenge and justice.
Footnotes
The Scene and Heard theatre festival runs in Smock Alley till February 28 and is worth investigating. See seenandheard.ie for full programme.
The Dublin International Film Festival runs from February 19 till March 1. See diff.ie for details.