REALITY CHECK

Nicole Flattery on how a stint as a nightclub coat checker solidified her life goal to become a writer

The Narrow Land by Christine Dwyer Hickey (Atlantic Press, approx €14.99, out March 7) is a beautiful slow-burner. It’s 1950 in Cape Cod. Ten-year-old Michael is spending the summer with Richie and his glamorous but troubled mother. But he has troubles of his own; repressed flashbacks, urged not to speak German, to speak of the pain of war. Soon, the boys form a bond, and another unlikely friendship is forged when they meet a couple living nearby – artists Jo and Edward Hopper. Edward is the famous one. Unwell and depressed by his inability to find inspiration, he becomes increasingly withdrawn. His wife grows increasingly volatile, her own identity suppressed by his success and talent. She’s obsessive and overbearing in equal measure, furious that her husband may be besotted with another. She doesn’t know it is with Richie’s frail and beautiful aunt Katherine, who has not long to live – an infatuation he shares with young Michael.