Well-regarded Irish short story writer Roisin O’Donnell’s debut novel Nesting tackles head-on the blight of male domestic violence. Confused and unconfident Ciara flees her Dublin home (for the second time, she returned the first time), with her two young daughters, to escape the relentless emotional bludgeoning and dominance of her husband. A familiar story in these times, and at first, reading the author’s close-up narrative account, I experienced that sense of familiarity as an impost. But the prose is impeccably crafted, full of lovely scene setting detail, and once I settled into the rhythm, the novel acquired the impetus of a thriller. Will Ciara succeed against her husband’s unremitting, cunning campaigns to persuade her to return? By the three-quarter mark, Ciara dons the mantle of a hero with an impossible quest, and the finale is achingly tense. Nesting is a beautiful, important literary work.
Book, movie/show, and album reviews
