A lighthearted romp through an Irish community filled with characters that are as dysfunctional as they are delightful.
Three women from a suburban development in Ireland find surprising connections to each other as they attempt to move forward from mistakes they’ve each made in the past.
A hodgepodge group of neighbors from Pine Road, Dublin, uses WhatsApp to manage their poker schedule, but the chat group functions more as a gossip-filled neighborhood watch. When a new family moves into No. 8, the poker group is in a tizzy trying to collect information about the new neighbors. Edie Rice is particularly intrigued, not only because she loves a good mystery, but also because the new arrivals solidify Edie’s status as a longer-standing member of the neighborhood group. When Edie runs into the woman from No. 8, Martha Rigby, outside the market, she’s thrilled she will be able to report to WhatsApp with details about the sophisticated mystery woman. As the residents of Pine Road get to know Martha, she reveals that she relocated from Limerick with her husband and children because of some sort of trauma. Unable to stop herself, Edie investigates Martha’s past and discovers that her family fell victim to a crime before they moved. Edie confides this information to Robin Dwyer, another neighbor, and Robin begins to develop her own theories about what happened to send Martha running from Limerick. Meanwhile, Edie, Robin, and Martha confront complex personal issues within their own families relating to parenting and partnership, all while at the mercy of the neighborhood yentas. Despite a few too many slapstick moments and clichés of neighborhood busybodies, the story tackles many complicated issues relating to self-esteem, parenting, and interpersonal connections. The cast of characters is unnecessarily long, and there are a few too many subplots fighting for attention. Even so, there are sufficient comical twists and warmhearted connections to make the book great fun.
A lighthearted romp through an Irish community filled with characters that are as dysfunctional as they are delightful.Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-525-53788-5
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.
A young woman’s experience as a nurse in Vietnam casts a deep shadow over her life.
When we learn that the farewell party in the opening scene is for Frances “Frankie” McGrath’s older brother—“a golden boy, a wild child who could make the hardest heart soften”—who is leaving to serve in Vietnam in 1966, we feel pretty certain that poor Finley McGrath is marked for death. Still, it’s a surprise when the fateful doorbell rings less than 20 pages later. His death inspires his sister to enlist as an Army nurse, and this turn of events is just the beginning of a roller coaster of a plot that’s impressive and engrossing if at times a bit formulaic. Hannah renders the experiences of the young women who served in Vietnam in all-encompassing detail. The first half of the book, set in gore-drenched hospital wards, mildewed dorm rooms, and boozy officers’ clubs, is an exciting read, tracking the transformation of virginal, uptight Frankie into a crack surgical nurse and woman of the world. Her tensely platonic romance with a married surgeon ends when his broken, unbreathing body is airlifted out by helicopter; she throws her pent-up passion into a wild affair with a soldier who happens to be her dead brother’s best friend. In the second part of the book, after the war, Frankie seems to experience every possible bad break. A drawback of the story is that none of the secondary characters in her life are fully three-dimensional: Her dismissive, chauvinistic father and tight-lipped, pill-popping mother, her fellow nurses, and her various love interests are more plot devices than people. You’ll wish you could have gone to Vegas and placed a bet on the ending—while it’s against all the odds, you’ll see it coming from a mile away.
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781250178633
Page Count: 480
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
PERSPECTIVES
BOOK TO SCREEN
SEEN & HEARD
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.
The sequel to It Ends With Us (2016) shows the aftermath of domestic violence through the eyes of a single mother.
Lily Bloom is still running a flower shop; her abusive ex-husband, Ryle Kincaid, is still a surgeon. But now they’re co-parenting a daughter, Emerson, who's almost a year old. Lily won’t send Emerson to her father’s house overnight until she’s old enough to talk—“So she can tell me if something happens”—but she doesn’t want to fight for full custody lest it become an expensive legal drama or, worse, a physical fight. When Lily runs into Atlas Corrigan, a childhood friend who also came from an abusive family, she hopes their friendship can blossom into love. (For new readers, their history unfolds in heartfelt diary entries that Lily addresses to Finding Nemo star Ellen DeGeneres as she considers how Atlas was a calming presence during her turbulent childhood.) Atlas, who is single and running a restaurant, feels the same way. But even though she’s divorced, Lily isn’t exactly free. Behind Ryle’s veneer of civility are his jealousy and resentment. Lily has to plan her dates carefully to avoid a confrontation. Meanwhile, Atlas’ mother returns with shocking news. In between, Lily and Atlas steal away for romantic moments that are even sweeter for their authenticity as Lily struggles with child care, breastfeeding, and running a business while trying to find time for herself.
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-668-00122-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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