This, Patrick Holloway’s debut novel, is a tale of two lives, told in alternating chapters. “Then” looks at a teenage love affair in the 1970s. Holloway’s is an original take on that darling trope, the pregnant Irish girl in the bad old days. Oddly original, because Brigid and James are in love, and he doesn’t abandon her. Still, his reaction to the news that she’s pregnant makes you think there might be something to be said for Magdalene laundries. The solution, forced upon the couple, both studying for the Leaving, is a shotgun wedding that is more like a slow hanging than a swift bullet. Even though such scenarios can’t have been uncommon, they’re seldom dealt with in Irish fiction. Holloway treats the complex topic sensitively, with great insight into social mores and individual psychology.
The “Now” chapters, in the second person singular, relate the story of the son of the marriage, Oisín, just returned from Tír na nÓg, with his lovely wife and small daughter Ailish. He has enjoyed Brazil for 10 years so readjusting to a gloomy Ireland – it’s outside Cork – is challenging. Oisin’s journey involves coming to terms with this environmental change, looking after his mother, who has Alzheimer’s, and reuniting with his grandmother – a strongly drawn character, defined, very cleverly, by the words she uses – a Dickensian device that works brilliantly.
Indeed, the theme of language permeates the novel. Everyone is searching for the right words. Brigid, the mother, speaks some Gaeilge, but often can’t find the words she needs in any language. Oisín is fluent in Portuguese and Spanish and is learning Gaeilge. He too searches for the perfect word from time to time. Ailish is beginning to talk. The grandmother, though, has an outstanding command of English – a gift that endows her with a powerful command of life.
All writers are hunters after the right word, and Holloway ensnares the best. The ordinary enough family story, its light and shade, unfolds convincingly and enthrallingly, in rich, agile prose. There are no high-wire acts – which may tell against him in the literary competitions, alas. But Holloway is the real deal. He’s a true novelist and this is an utterly readable book of real depth.
