"‘No one becomes a worse person for rain on her head."
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#TheGoodPeople by #HannahKent is the story of Nóra Leahy, Nance Roche and Mary Clifford. "Nóra Leahy has lost her daughter and her husband in the same year, and is now burdened with the care of her four-year-old grandson, Micheál. Unable to care for the child alone, Nóra hires a fourteen-year-old servant girl, Mary,... Alone, hedged in by rumour, Mary and her mistress seek out the only person in the valley who might be able to help Micheál. For although her neighbours are wary of her, it is said that old Nance Roche has the knowledge. That she consorts with Them, the Good People. And that only she can return those whom they have taken..."

Its very tempting to think life was better, easier, simpler in 1825 but I think we all know this is very naive. We might be deeply interested in learning more about a specific time but we also know the risks. Wanting to see fairies, or meet a cailleach, isn't a strong motive. Besides, there are many new cailleach on social media (or so they claim to be) & regardless of whether you believe in fairies, I think it helps to have a level of belief and caution.

The Good People is based on a true incident of infanticide from 1826 in County Kerry, Ireland. Setting the story within fact is just one odd the elements I like about Kent's work. Kent is able to resist the temptation to make some part of a true story 'kind', she resists the urge to make a brutal experience 'not that bad', and you should read this book to experience another landscape for yourself.

I feel very guilty that I still haven't reviewed this novel on here, and even more guilty that I still haven't actually read it. One day I will because I loved Burial Rites, but I have to be honest and say that I wasn't approved for this eARC until after I'd already bought my own copy of this book, and because I own my own copy it's meant I wasn't in as much of a rush to read it as I would have been if I'd received it before my own copy arrived. I did start this novel and I still love Kent's writing style, so one day I will be crossing it off my TBR!

Good. Even though it took me awhile to get into it, the story was an interesting concept showing the battle between 'Old Ways' that can be taken as superstitious, the church and science.

A wonderfully atmospheric and compelling exploration of religion, folklore and superstition in an impoverished small Irish village in the early 1800s, the book is based on a real life incident, which for me made it even more intriguing. The author has done her research and manages to really penetrate into the hearts and minds of these poor, often illiterate peasant families, caught between the teachings of the Church and the old beliefs about changelings, fairies and The Good People. It’s a slow-moving tale but I found that worked well to really get inside the lives of the main characters, most of whom I found credible and convincing. This isolated community felt very authentic and my heart went out to their plight when faced with problems that seem to have no solutions or explanations. A really absorbing and thought-provoking novel.

Although I tried to read this book and spent quite some time attempting to get involved in the story, I could not finish. So saying, Hannah Kent is a good writer, just not one who appeals to me.

Having been a fan of Hannah Kent’s debut novel Burial Rites, I was very excited to get the opportunity to read The Good People. Whilst not as rich as her debut, it is most definitely worth a read.

The Good People is fairly similar to Burial Rites. Set in 19th Century Ireland, it also has a deep focus on poverty, hunger, the earth and a darkness that inevitably leads to the book’s characters being tested under these tough circumstances.

Kent creates deeply evocative landscapes that are deeply atmospheric and add to the darkly unsettling tones of their stories. Both location and isolation add to the torment of Kent’s characters in both novels and Kent is brilliant in depicting her characters and their struggles, both socio-economic and moral. Nevertheless, I felt much more drawn to the leading character of Kent’s last novel, as she masterfully crafted an in depth look into the defining moments of a whole life. Inevitably, as there are three leading protagonists in this novel, this level of detail is not found.

The Good People is a brilliant novel about complex women, hardship, grief and superstition. Whilst not as rich as Burial Rites, Kent is a brilliant author who can really craft a tale.

The Good People is set in a small, impoverished rural community in Killarney in 1825. When her daughter, then her husband die unexpectedly, Nora is left to look after her crippled and speechless grandson alone. She keeps him hidden from her neighbours through shame, and in times rife with superstition, fears they will blame him for all the bad luck and misfortune which befalls the village.
Hannah Kent skilfully develops her characters, even as they stumble towards inevitable tragedy.
Nance, is an old woman who lives at the edge of the village, who is reputed to have the gift of healing. She is struggling to balance the responsibility of her powers with the need to keep hunger and cold at bay, compounded by the increasing animosity of the new village priest.
When first the doctor and then the priest fail to help her, Nora reluctantly agrees to approach Nance the healer. As the pressure on her increases, Nora becomes convinced that ‘the good people’ have swept her grandson, and left a changeling in his place, and Nance is forced into offering ‘cures’ she has reservations about.
Based on a true story, this is an impressively researched and well written book. The dark, damp atmosphere of horror and fear is tangible and unrelenting.
Thanks to Netgalley and Pan MacMillan

‘The Good People’ by Hannah Kent is a powerful second novel from a writer whose debut was outstanding. It is a tale of rural people in a poor community where superstition and folklore become entangled with one woman’s grief, with tragic results. Conflicting systems of thought come into play – folklore, religion, medicine and legal – and fail to make sense of what happens to Nóra Leahy. The power of the story lies not in black versus white, or logic and education versus peasant superstition, it lies in its characters.
County Kerry, Ireland, 1826. An isolated village, where gossip goes around and around, where people survive on milk and potatoes and burn turf on the fire. A place where petty grievances are not forgotten, there is no money to pay the doctor, but there are still random acts of kindness. In such a poor community, what happens when the unthinkable happens, where the doctor and priest have no explanation or solution?
‘The Good People’ is based on true events, a court case which did happen. In the same year in which her daughter died, Nóra’s husband drops dead in the field leaving her alone to care for her four-year-old grandson Micheál. He cannot walk or speak and neither the doctor nor the priest can offer hope. So Nóra keeps him hidden from the village gossips in the fear that his deformities may be an indication of fairy interference. Unable to cope alone, Nóra employs 14-year-old Mary to milk the cow and fetch the water, and principally to care for Micheál. Soon Mary hears the whispers at the well, that the unnatural child of Nóra Leahy is to blame for the poor harvest, the hens not laying, the thin milk. So Nóra asks Nance Roche for help. Nance is the wise woman of the valley, she knows the plants, the cures, and she talks to the Good People… the fairies.
When Nance suggests the screaming, fitting, feeble child is not really Micheál but a changeling left in his place by the fairies, the three women become embroiled in cures to banish ‘the fairy’. The darkness of the cures attempted on a disabled and sick child is disturbing and, ultimately tragic. The events unfold slowly through the stories of Nóra, Mary and Nance. The writing is beautiful and every page is steeped in the folklore of rural Ireland, this bleak village where poor people live at the edge of survival. It is impossible not to connect with the three women, each so different, while at the time seeing the inevitability of what is to come.
A little historical context. In 1801 the Act of Union was enacted which ended a separate parliament in Dublin with government switching to Westminster. In 1823 in Ireland, Daniel O’Connell began to set up Catholic associations around the country, seeking a repeal of the Act of Union. In 1826 an ‘old woman of very advance age’ known as Anne/Nance Roche was indicted for the wilful murder of Michael Kelliher/Leahy at the summer Tralee assizes in Co. Kerry.
A compelling read.
Read more of my book reviews at http://www.sandradanby.com/book-reviews-a-z/

Another e-book from Netgalley and I've wanted to start it for ages but it's a little longer than the other books I've been reading recently at 400 pages, whereas the other books so far in the month have been less than 300. I think this is her second novel, I have the first Burial Rites and now I need to read it ASAP!

The book is set in Ireland in the early 1800's within a small rural, poor community where tragedy and poverty seem to be just an established part of life but everyone gets by as they can and they have their kin and friends to rely on. It mainly follows the lives of Nora, Nance and Mary as well as Nora's grandson, Michael over what seems like a year or so throughout which there are numerous tragedies and hardships that they have to deal with. Each of the three women have problems of their own but they become intertwined as they try to cure Nora's grandson of this mysterious affiliation he seems to have which they think has been caused by fairies, the good people. In terms of the rural community setting and the fairies/folktales, it reminded me a little of The Hidden People.

I adored the writing, it's so atmospheric and bleak, you feel like your there with the characters as they trudge through life wondering when it's going to get a little easier. There are some disturbing, heartbreaking and extremely bleak moments in this book around hardship, friends turning on each other, death and distrust in the small tightly knit community.

I finished the book in around three days as I didn't want to put it down, I wanted to know what happened to Michael and the other characters. It was unusual, sad and depressing quite frankly at times but there was still a little hope in various characters and in me, that there would be a happy ending and I think the ending was a happy as it could have been considering what happened in the book. Then at the end, you find out that all of the actual events where based on a completely true story...

The Good People is the second book of the Aussie author Hannah Kent, who amazed us with her debut novel, Burial Rites. From the cold and bleak terrain of Iceland, this time the author chose to take us to the nineteenth-century rural Ireland, a land of folklore and superstition. This is the story of three women, of different age groups and backgrounds, whose lives intertwined in a strange way. In the centre of it all a crime and its consequences.

In many respects, this novel has many of the elements that we have seen and admired in Burial Rites. The author once again has done an extensive research on the customs and ways of the Irish life in small villages at that time. Her prose is as usual exquisite and her characters are well-built. This is another novel that provides plenty food for thought and manages, subtly but accurately, to raise many issues.

If there is something that didn’t quite work well with me is its pace. Although I was intrigued by the story, I felt that at times the plot didn’t have this particular kick that would make me jump the pages.

In any case, I strongly feel that The Good People is one of these books that one has to read to decide for themselves if it was really worthy of their time. I do feel that Hannah Kent deserves a prominent place to the Hall of Fame of contemporary authors and I can’t wait to read her next novel.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange of an honest review.

I'll be honest, I found this book hard and eventually gave up on it half way through. It's a shame as I absolutely loved 'Burial Rites', by Hannah Kent which I felt was immensely atmospheric and really brought to life 19th century Iceland. But this just didn't catch my interest in the same way. While this story of a rural Irish community and its relationship with 'The Good People' (the name they give the fairies who live among them) sounds great on paper, the plot is plodding. Characters are bogged down by stereotypes and I just couldn't feel all that interested and sympathetic towards Nora and the tortures she inflicts on her disabled grandson after being led to believe that he is not a human, but a faery child.
In fairness to Kent, her research is impeccable and her writing is elegant and beautifully descriptive, But this one just didn't stick with me. Perhaps at another time, I'll feel compelled to pick it up again and finally get around to finishing it.

A fantastic follow up to the amazing Burial Rites, Hannah Kent is incredibly talented and brings to life 19th century Ireland. She really shows how what seem to be unremarkable lives can turn quickly. She also focuses on how women coped and how they were seen by the very closed societies they lived in.

Not quite as good as her first but still compelling and intriguing.

I would like to thank Picador for providing me with an advanced reading copy of this book.

The Good People is an engaging, emotional, and at times an uncomfortable read. It's beautifully written and pulls the reader into a world that oozes atmosphere and superstition. I really enjoyed it. I felt like I was there, that I knew these people and was a part of their world. A world that was so easily pictured, right down to the smallest of leaves on the trees, the ripples on the water, and the smells in the air. I could see everything clearly as I read. The characters felt real to me. I felt their pain, I lived, hoped, dreamed, and struggled alongside them.

I particularly loved the lore and superstition surrounding the faeries. The belief that illness, bad crop yields, and animals not producing were because of the faeries being angered, and the way daily rituals were carried out to protect harvests, households, families, and to keep food on the table, totally captivated me. I have fond memories of my grandparents doing similar things for the "wee folk". I remember as a child making small trinkets and gifts to leave around the farm for the wee folk, pouring fresh milk from the goats into a bowl on the doorstep, and also leaving out honey and oatcakes. I did the same with my own children when they were growing up, they used to leave gifts for the faeries under the tree in the garden.

Definitely, one I would recommend. I will be reading more from this author in the near future.

Some of you may know of the author Hannah Kent, whose debut novel Burial Rites, set in Iceland, became a popular bestseller. I never did get around to reading it, though I would still like to, and it was for that reason I was intrigued to pick up this, her second historical novel, set in Ireland during the early 1800’s.

The Good People centres around the lives of three Irish country women, Nora, who has recently become a widow in the same year her daughter passed away, Mary, the teenage housemaid she employs to help her take care of a 4-year-old cripple, the grandson her son-in-law left with her; and Nance, an ageing spinster who lives in a mud shack on the edge of the forest, the one with “the knowledge” whom certain members of the community go to when the remedies of the doctor and the priest yield no cure.

Nora has not consulted Nance before, though her husband Martin had. She is wary of others and their superstitions so keeps the boy hidden from their prying eyes, lest they connect his condition to the string of bad luck in the community, for there are some saying he has ‘the fairy in him’, that he was a changeling, as if possessed.

‘A Changeling’ by illustrator & Ireland’s laureate for children’s literature, PJ Lynch – http://www.pjlynchgallery.com

In Irish folklore, people believed that fairies (Irish fairies appear to be a lot more sinister than the Disney kind) could entice or abduct a child away, leaving a malformed substitute (fairy) in its place, recognisable due to its ugly appearance, ill-health, bad temper and old world look of knowledge in their eyes. There were a number of ‘cures’ that might be applied to ‘sweep’ out the fairy and restore the child.

The novel follows the events that occur during the time Mary stays with Nora, as the widow increasingly begins to doubt the child is her grandson and treats “it” as if he were a changeling and Nance’s ways are denounced by the new priest.

‘I have been told you make it your trade to cry at burials.’

‘What is the harm in that?’

‘Your sorrow is artificial, Nance. Rather than comfort those who are afflicted, you live upon their dead.’

Nance shook her head. ‘I do not, Father. That’s not it at all. I feel their sorrow. I give voice to the grief of others when they have not a voice for it themselves.’

The novel immerses the reader deep into the folklore of 19th century Ireland, portraying many of its characters and the community around them as believers of those ancient ways, practitioners of protective rituals, despite the existence of more rational medicines and beliefs.

‘That’s right. Lights. Coming from here the fairies do be, down by the Piper’s Grave,’ Peter continued. Now I might not have the full of my eyes, but I swear I saw a glowing by that whitethorn. You mark my words, there’ll be another death in this family before long.’ His voice dropped to a whisper. ‘First the daughter passes, and now the husband. I tell you, death likes three in company. And if the Good People had a hand in it… well.’

The old ways brush up against the new and culminate in a challenge of one versus the other through the justice system.

Clearly, an extraordinarily well-researched novel, based on certain real events, it succeeds in creating an authentic sense of place, inside the very primitive home of Nora imbued with a strong sense of dread that this is not going to end well. We are shown how things came to be for all three characters and the reactions of the community around them, quick to fear and to judge.

Image of Whitethorn, Faerie Tree, said to guard the entrance to the faerie realm

What it really excels at, is to make the reader wonder what is real and what is not, after the rejection of the doctor and the priest, we understand how the maid and the widow want desperately to believe in the knowledge of Nance and her alternative “cure”, providing a fascinating insight into a cultural folklore that had much of its community in its grip (and some say does still).

Despite this authenticity, I found it lagged in the mid-section, as Nance’s back story was filled in, causing me to lose interest in picking the book up for a while. It picked up again as the author returned to moving the plot forward. It’s a book, that despite its flaws is likely to generate interesting discussions, of those ancient rituals and beliefs and the cases that became well-known, of cures gone wrong.

Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand.

(Excerpt from ‘The Stolen Child’ by W.B Yeats)

The Good People is the second novel from Australian author Hannah Kent, following her 2013 debut Burial Rites. I liked Burial Rites – the story of a woman found guilty of murder in 19th century Iceland – but I didn’t love it the way so many other readers did and I was curious to see what I would think of this new one. Now that I’ve read it, I can say that this is definitely my favourite of the two.

The Good People is set in rural Ireland in the 1820s. Nóra Leahy is going through a difficult time, having lost both her daughter and her husband in the space of a year. She has been left to take care of her four-year-old grandson, Micheál, who should be a blessing to her – but to Nóra he is nothing but a worry. She remembers seeing him as a healthy, happy baby, yet the little boy her son-in-law has brought to live with her is entirely different: he is thin and sickly, has lost the use of his legs, can’t understand what is being said to him and communicates through uncontrollable screaming. Nóra knows something is badly wrong with him and, unable to cope on her own, she hires a girl, Mary Clifford, to help her look after him.

Mary is shocked by Micheál’s condition, but does her best for him with the limited knowledge she has, aware that Nóra is starting to view the child with fear and revulsion. In this isolated community, neither the village priest nor the doctor are able to offer any useful advice or explanations, so Nóra seeks the help of the healer and wise woman Nance Roche. Nance knows all about the world of the fairies, or the Good People, as she calls them, and tells Nóra that Micheál is not her grandson at all, but a changeling. Together, Nóra, Nance and Mary set about trying to drive the fairy out of the child’s body in the hope that the real Micheál will be restored.

As you can imagine, The Good People is not exactly the happiest or most uplifting of books – but then, not everything that happens in life is happy or uplifting either, and, like Burial Rites, this novel is based on a true event from history. Poor Micheál’s story is a tragic one, all the more so because of the treatment he receives from the very people he should be able to rely on for love and affection. The worst of it is, these people really seem to believe in fairies and convince themselves that Micheál really is a changeling, because then there is a chance that he can be cured. Through a mixture of ignorance and superstition, they think they are doing the right thing.

Hannah Kent writes beautifully and from the very first page the reader is pulled into a bygone world, a remote community in which the people, despite living in a Christian society, are still holding on to their ancient beliefs and traditions. This is not a fantasy novel or a fairy tale, yet the unseen fairies are a very strong presence throughout the story: we are told that the Good People live in their ringfort, Piper’s Grave, in a lonely part of the valley where lights dance around the ghostly whitethorn tree, and that their powers are strongest at the place where three rivers meet. Everyone seems to know of at least one person who has been ‘swept’ away by the fairies and they just accept these things as part of their everyday lives.

Because of the overwhelming sadness of the story and the suffering of little Micheál, I know this isn’t a book that will appeal to everyone, but I was very impressed by it. I loved it for the quality of the writing, the intensity of the atmosphere and the insights into life in a less enlightened time and place.

In a remote part of Ireland in the early 19th century, life is hard. The people live basic lives, selling eggs and butter and farming the land for potatoes, just about managing to pay their rent each year. The Church is important but there is a great deal of suspicion and folklore, particularly about 'the good people', the fairies. Nora's daughter has died and her husband brings their crippled son to Nora and her husband but after the death of Nora's husband she becomes increasingly convinced that the boy is a changeling. The local 'wise woman' Nance tries to drive the fairy out of the boy as the valley turns against her and the Church threatens.

Having loved Kent's first novel 'Burial Rites' I eagerly awaited this one and was not disappointed. The intensity of poverty and ignorance in the wilds of Ireland is beautifully envisioned and the research into language and folklore is superb. It is clear the direction that the story will take but that isn't important, it's the stunning writing and characterisation that make this one of the best books that I have read recently.

That challenging second novel

I was eagerly looking forward to Hannah Kent’s second novel – but also, had a kind of trepidation. A particularly stunning first novel which is unusual and remarkable must be a bit of a sting in the tail, when the author has to ‘follow that’ . Burial Rites, a historical Scandi crime novel based on a real event, written by a woman who is not Scandinavian, but Australian, was that book

Unfortunately despite Kent’s often beautiful descriptive writing, despite the great detail, the obviously thorough and painstaking research, The Good People, based like her previous book on a real historical crime – here, Ireland, 1825, I found this book a struggle, rather than one I could not bear to put down.

Rural, impoverished Ireland. Though recognisably ‘modern age’ in cities, by this time, in cut-off rural communities, things might be rather different. Here, alongside Catholicism, runs still a belief in fairy folk, the rather ironically named ‘Good People’ in that a fear exists around them, around their ability to wreak malevolence, stealing children, leaving changelings in their place, drying the milk yield of cows, interfering with the weather, bringing illness.

Following the unexpected death of Martin Leahy, a small scratching a living farmer, which followed the equally unexpected earlier death of his daughter Johanna, Martin’s widow, Nora, riven by grief, is left to raise their peculiar grandson. Michael, who, aged four, can neither speak nor walk, and appears to be in great pain, screaming, thrashing around, gibbering. Nora has hidden him from neighbours, and there are rumours that in some way Michael is responsible for a series of bad luck events happening in the poor community. What would be diagnosed today as a neurological disorder is seen, possibly, as being evidence of a curse. Nora does not quite believe Michael is her grandson – who was a happy, walking talking little boy till he was two. Could he be a changeling? Nora hires a young girl, one even poorer and more impoverished, to help her look after Michael. Beginning with a feeling of distaste for Michael, young Mary’s compassion is stirred. The third, major figure here is Nance, an elderly ‘wise woman’ (or, possibly, one to be seen as witch, devil touched) In this poor community who can’t afford the doctor, the woman with knowledge of herbs is sought in times of illness, but runs the risk of being viewed also with hatred and suspicion, where superstitious beliefs run deep. There is also a new priest in town (well, okay in isolated hamlet) who is implacably set against any evidence of the non-Christian, the pagan beliefs which Christianity had worked so hard to drive out.

Here is the basis for a wonderful, horrific, fascinating book. As it sometimes is, but more often, for me, misses, because what it lacks is the tension of a far more honed narrative drive. The book just feels interminably long, and the beautiful writing is proceeding relentlessly onwards. It’s perfectly obvious where the story is going to lead, but there is just far, far, too much detail, and at times I wondered whether I was reading a novel or a factual book about subsistence living in isolated rural communities, in Ireland, in the 1820s.

The other challenge was – and I can’t put my finger on why – I could not engage with any of the characters. It’s not that readers must like characters, but I do think the characters, be they loathsome or be they lovable, must excite the reader’s interest, curiousity. We must want to know, quite intensely, what they are going to do next, what is about to happen to them. And I didn’t

I am pleased to see there is a such a huge divergence of opinions about this book. Kent IS a fine writer, and, clearly her fine writing is working for a lot of people. I shall certainly be interesting in reading more of her writing, and will await book 3, eagerly, but, as for this one – 3 ½, which, sadly, as I have to round up or down, under Amazon’s star system, I will have to drop to 3. It IS better than Okay, but not enough better to go to 4 star, for my tastes.

I received this as a digital copy from the publishers, via NetGalley

Hannah Kent's debut novel, Burial Rites, was my book of 2012 and is consistently my most-recommended title at work. So I had extremely high hopes for The Good People and they were, for the most part, realised. Although we move from the bleak landscapes of 19th Century Iceland to, erm, the bleak landscapes of 19th Century Ireland, this is no mere re-tread.

The Good People follows three women - widow Nora, her young maid Mary, and local healer and midwife Nance, who is relied upon but distrusted by the villagers. Nora is struggling to raise her disabled grandson in the face of local mutterings: that he's a changeling, that the real Michael has been stolen by the Good People of the forest, that he is bringing bad luck to the settlement. She believes Nance can help her and, such is the power of the writing, that as a reader I believed it too.

The wonder (and the horror) of the book lies in Kent's demonstration of how easy it is even for good people to be swept away by belief and superstition; how we justify even terrible acts to ourselves. In this sense, we can understand the 'good people' of the title to refer to the protagonists as well as the fairy folk.

The Good People is a haunting, atmospheric and devastating examination of folklore, belief and superstition: very much recommended.

The story of a changeling...

When her husband Martin suddenly dies, Nóra is left alone, except for the young grandchild she is looking after, the son of her dead daughter. Young Michéal was a healthy child for the first couple of years of his life, but now there's something seriously wrong with him – he can no longer walk or talk and needs constant attention. Nóra finds him a burden and is ashamed of him, trying to hide him from the sight of the other villagers. But there is already gossip about the child – some believe he is a changeling, left by the Good People (i.e. fairies) in the place of the real Michéal whom they have stolen. And Nóra is becoming more willing to believe this too.

Kent uses Martin's wake to introduce us to this small, superstitious Irish community in the early 1800s. The villagers share their belief between the teachings of the Catholic church and the older, more pagan, traditions, and see no real contradiction between them. But the Catholic church doesn't feel the same way, and the new priest is determined to stamp out the old practices. The villagers operate a simple policy of pretending to go along with this, while still carrying out the old rites behind the priest's back. In the woods lives old Nance, the village midwife and wise woman, to whom the villagers secretly turn when they need the kind of help of which the priest wouldn't approve. Nance knows the ways of the Good People, and uses a mix of magic and herb lore to heal and cure. And she's had experience of changelings before...

Kent's prose is just as skilled in this as in her earlier novel, Burial Rites, and again she creates her setting brilliantly and believably. Unfortunately, the story of this one isn't nearly as interesting and is dragged out for far too long, becoming ever slower and more repetitive as it goes along. It's entirely monotone – misery all the way, with no glimmer of light amidst all the darkness. It's crystal clear from very early on how it's all going to play out – arguably, the same could be said of Burial Rites, but in that one although the ending is never in doubt, the interest is in discovering the reason behind the crime. In this one, the reason is obvious and particularly unpleasant, as are the descriptions of how awful Nóra found it to deal with this child.

Nance's story is a little more interesting, if just as depressing, as we discover how she learned her lore about the Good People. And another character is introduced, young Mary, whom Nóra hires to help her with the child. I initially hoped that she would bring a touch of lightness into the story, but sadly not – she too is soon dragged down to the general level of desperation prevailing in the village. It feels authentic to a degree – people in rural Ireland were undoubtedly dirt-poor and superstitious in that era, so I imagine happiness wasn't overflowing. But I bet it wasn't entirely non-existent either, and I always dislike these books that simply invite us to wallow voyeuristically in other people's misery and show nothing to contrast with it. Not only did I not care about any of the characters, I actively disliked them all, especially Nóra.

Sadly, I found at about the halfway point that I couldn't stand much more of it, so flicked through the second half, dipping in and out to see if the tone changed, or if the story veered from the predictable path. But neither did, and I came away from it admiring the prose and the research, but disappointed in both the monotone style and the repetitive and over-long story. I'm sure it will appeal more to people who have a greater tolerance for this kind of unrelieved misery novel than I do – a mismatch between book and reader on this occasion.

NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, Pan MacMillan.