Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

I think I'd like to read this book again straight away (and I would if I hadn't got tons of other things to read). I was feeling a bit let down by this book until the last quarter and then I realised I'd been reading it all wrong. It's not the first time I've had preconceptions and missed the whole point of a book. It probably won't be the last.

So the book follows two women - Joyce who is headed for an entire lifetime of subjugation under her mother's suffocating presence; and Lydia who is struggling to find her place in the world after a failed career in a band and a less than stellar job as a freelancer.

Joyce wants more out of life than existing in a pokey flat with her mother and Lydia, newly reunited with her best friend, Pan, and Pan's daughter, Lol, is trying to understand why the man who abused her gets to say sorry and walk away.

Two women whose unsatisfying lives intersect for one stunning moment. But what will come next?

As I said I read this book all wrong. I should have luxuriated in the slow build up of pressure instead of wondering when that one moment would arrive. Hence I'd like to read it again and soon. Rose Ruane writes characters very well and she captures the pathos and ennui of the situation and town very clearly.

There are difficult subjects to navigate but nothing feels sensational or overdone. Both women are clearly in need of some love and care and I felt sympathy for Joyce and Lydia but also for all the other characters whose lives weren't all they wanted them to be but were still hopeful.

Highly recommended. A gentle but effective novel.

Thankyou to Netgalley and Little, Brown for the advance review copy.