Geraghty’s fourth
novel, Lifesaving For Beginners
(Hodder & Stoughton, $34.99) isn’t a Binchy copycat but does have much of
what made her fiction so popular: characters who are decent people deep down
even though they may be troubled, emotional storytelling, a sort of generosity
of spirit, a warmth and poignancy.
The novel opens dramatically with a truck driver
falling asleep at the wheel and hitting two cars. The occupant of one dies,
while the other miraculously survives. It’s the aftermath of those crashes, the
people whose lives are changed and the extraordinary link between them that
form the backbone of the story.
Milo McIntyre is
nearly nine and growing up in Brighton where his Mum runs the Funky Banana café
– or at least she did until she was killed on a trip home to Ireland. Milo’s
elder sister Faith is now looking after him but, since she’s been left reeling
by the discovery she was adopted, very often Milo finds himself looking after
her instead.
Kat Kavanagh is
nearly 40 and living in Dublin. She has some big secrets – for a start she’s a
best-selling crime thriller writer hiding behind a psuedonym – and she also has
a problem. Spurred on by her near death experience her boyfriend Thomas has
proposed to her and, even though she’s mad about him, she’s pushed him away.
Holed up alone in her apartment, drinking too much and writing too little, she
starts receiving threatening phone calls from someone who has guessed her
identity.
The two distinct
voices and perspectives work brilliantly. Kat is prickly and rather selfish but
redeems herself as you get to know her. Her sections of the story are
reminiscent of that other popular Irish author Marian Keyes with lots of
gentle, family-based humour and a sardonic tone. Kat has a Downs Syndrome
brother called Ed that she adores, a distant, literary mother and a past she’s
ashamed of.
As for Milo, he is
adorable, heartbreaking and funny. I’ve no idea if he’s a realistic
nine-year-old but I hope so. He’s plucky and honest, with that child’s often
comic inability to filter his conversation.
The link between
the McIntyres and Kat isn’t so difficult to guess and the car crash they have
in common isn’t remotely probable but it’s not the real glue that holds this
story together so that doesn’t matter too much.
I never managed to
read a Maeve Binchy novel without tears coursing down my face at some point and
Lifesaving For Beginners had that
same effect. It’s a lovely novel with a careful balance of bitter and sweet –
Geraghty can certainly tell a yarn.
No comments:
Post a Comment