TITLE: THINGS WE NEVER SAY
AUTHOR: SHEILA O’FLANAGAN
Pages: 504
Date: 05/07/2013
Grade: 4
Details: Received from Headline Review
Own
Abbey Anderson’s life in San
Francisco appears to be running smoothly, if not
completely to her satisfaction, when everything gets turned upside down. It
starts with her boyfriend walking out of her life. It is bad enough that he
didn’t tell her he was leaving but left her a post-it note on the fridge
instead. Discovering that he also failed to pay their rent, even though she’d
given him her share, and that she is now to be evicted as well as expected to
pay the full amount, means that not only is her heart broken, she is also in
serious financial trouble as well as homeless.
Then Abbey is contacted by Irish lawyer Ryan Gilligan and discovers that
everything she thought she knew about herself, her mother and her heritage has
been wrong. A trip to Dublin
brings her face to face with a grandfather she never knew she had who also dies
shortly after welcoming her to his home. Her first meeting with her newly
discovered family couldn’t have gotten off to a worse start. And things only
get worse when her grandfather’s testament turns out to hold provisions that
thoroughly shock all concerned.
Next thing Abbey knows she finds herself in the middle of a legal battle
she wasn’t looking for and facing difficult decisions; decisions that won’t
just affect her life but that of everybody around her too.
But maybe this upheaval is just what Abbey needed to get the right
perspective on her own life.
This is one well written and very easy to read book. In fact, I would
say it is probably the perfect book to spend a few warm summer days with.
Having said that, I wasn’t completely charmed by it. While the story is
interesting and layered, it also seemed a bit too long to me. I can’t help
feeling that this book wouldn’t have lost its power if it had been about 100
pages shorter. The characters in this story are another thing I’m a bit
ambivalent about. Some of them, like Abbey, were well rounded and experienced
real development over the course of the story. That can’t be said for all of
them though. Especially some of the Irish characters started off horrid and
childish and stayed that way. And I wouldn’t have minded that, except that the
bad behaviour appeared to get rewarded in the end.
On the other hand, I did like the way Irish history, and the Magdalene
Laundries in particular, were used in this story and I loved Abbey and her
mother. And while some of the Irish characters seemed to be irredeemable,
others had managed to surprise me in a very pleasant way by the time I finished
the story. And I have to admit that Sheila O’Flanagan writes a very good story.
Despite my reservations I did find myself compelled to keep on reading. The
words drove me forwards and the story had me questioning how the author would
manage to bring the conflict she had created to a satisfying conclusion. I have
to applaud her for doing exactly that and in a way that was both fairytale like
and realistic.
Overall this was a light, interesting and very enjoyable read. In fact I
would say it was “grand”.
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