Bad things happen in ‘The Good People’

Hannah Kent delves into 19th century Ireland

Hannah Kent explores the intersection of faith and folklore in 19th century Ireland in her fascinating historical novel The Good People (Little, Brown, 400 pp., eeeg out of four).

Nothing has been quite right since young Micheál arrived at his grandmother Nóra’s house in rural Crohane, Ireland. A once charming and chatty toddler, Micheál is now unable to speak or walk, left behind by his distraught father after the sudden death of Nóra’s daughter.

The cows won’t milk, the butter doesn’t churn and one terrible day, Nóra’s beloved husband Martin slumps over dead while digging ditches.

Nóra comes to believe that the child left in her care is not her grandson, but a changeling left behind by the fairies, or Good People, who cause illness and misfortune. Nora hires Mary, an impoverished young girl, to care for Micheál while she works her field and cows.

The town’s doctor and priest both tell Nóra the boy’s condition is hopeless, so she turns to Nance Roche, a bean feasa, or healer, who uses her knowledge of the supernatural world to help the villagers with ills from sore throats to sleepwalking. Nance offers Nóra a series of potions and poultices to take the fairy out of young Micheál, but nothing works.

In desperation, the three women set upon a dangerous plan to dunk Micheál in the icy river at the portentous time of the new year to finally wrest him of his demon.

Nóra, Nance and Mary are well-drawn women, particularly the aging Nance, whose powers leave her ostracized by the same people who desperately seek her cures in their times of greatest need. Nóra turns away from her grandson and toward the bottle of home-distilled poitín. And innocent Mary comes to love the wraith of a child she is hired to care for.

Add Kent to the list of terrific Australian novelists writing today. While Liane Moriarty ( Big Little Lies) mines modern marriage and mores for her pageturning mysteries, Kent ( Burial Rites) goes back in time to find reality-based stories of women who pay the price for challenging society’s expectations.

The Good People has great characters, a setting that seeps into your bones and the always compelling tug between the spiritual and the superstitious.