Pin-sharp snapshot of three women and their secrets frozen in a moment in time
Every sunbed needs a good tear-jerker of a read (or is that just me?), and this haunting book about what goes on behind closed doors is as beautiful as it is painful.
Nancy Thompson is running away from some messy gossip. The 32-year-old needs three things and she needs them fast: to get away from the tight-knit and incestuous theatre scene in London, where everyone knows what happened; to start a brand new job with a clean slate; and, with any luck, to move on.
She thinks she has burned all her bridges in London and moves to Dublin for a fresh start as an assistant director on a production of Pride and Prejudice.
Nancy finds a house-sitting position on Primrose Square and is ready for a new beginning, but she soon learns that her new neighbours have their own dramas and there’s something about Sam Williams, her landlord, that doesn’t quite add up.
Sam quickly seduces her. Nancy loves the way he makes her feel, so she overlooks the truth of their unhealthy attachment. Another Primrose Square resident is Susan Hayes, who is grieving for her dead daughter, Ella.
She thinks that Ella’s boyfriend was to blame for her overdose and wants vengeance.
Back home waits Susan’s other daughter, 12-year-old Melissa, who misses her sister, but is desperately trying to keep up appearances.
Then there’s 66-year-old widow Jayne Dawson, at number 19, who knows things are falling apart for Susan and Melissa. Jayne is lonely herself, but she has just told her money-grabbing son, Jason, and his wife about her new online male “friend”, ageing hippie Eric.
The book follows these figures through a few months of their lives and offers a pin-sharp snapshot of three women and a particular moment in time.
Their stories propel an enjoyable, if uneven, page-turner of a novel to its tidy conclusion. Carroll (inset) is very strong on loss and the mourning process. She gives us a fresh and honest examination of death and grieving through Susan’s journal entries, which punctuate the book. There is so much to love about this book — its depiction of life’s pain and problems, the search for belonging and how it feels to be a woman and a mother.