Not So Pretty View of Ireland

Many people think of Ireland as a magical place full of green pastures packed with woolly sheep and lovely stone cottages and winding country roads. And I'm sure there are plenty of such things in Ireland. But there are also plenty of places like Faithful Place, the dreary, poverty-stricken neighborhood depicted in Tana French's new novel called, well, Faithful Place. French has taken a somewhat minor character from her last novel, Frank Mackey, and made this new book his story. It's a dreary place, yes. And it's a dreary story, yes. But French is a remarkable writer. Her agility and sense of place makes Faithful Place seem like it's one of the characters itself. Frank goes back to his childhood neighborhood when an old suitcase is found hidden in the chimney of an abandoned apartment house. The suitcase happened to belong to his childhood sweetheart--the sweetheart that he and everyone else assumed had run off to merry old England without him. His entire life, as it turns out, has been built on a falsehood. The dialogue among all these people is priceless. I found myself thinking in this Irish brogue and wanting to say words like "yous" and "eejit" and other choice terms I can't repeat in polite company. The Mackeys and their neighbors lead harsh lives, and their unhappiness shows up in hard ways. We discover why it is that Frank Mackey left home and never looked back. But we feel bad about it. And we mourn for his lost sweetheart Rosie right along with him.