This is the first book I have read by this author, and I was blown away by the quality of his writing. There is no doubt, this novel was a difficult one to read and I imagine an extremely difficult one to write.
There won’t be many people who are unaware of the abuse suffered by children at the hands of the priests and the further betrayal by the church hierarchy. I felt outrage, devastation and disappointment,equally, at the way that many families were let down by the people that they placed their trust in.
Odran, the narrator, was a wonderful character who despite his shortcomings was a good person who it was impossible to dislike. As the novel jumps forward and back in time you got to see his devotion,loneliness, anger and regrets. I think it was his loneliness that made it more difficult to see what was happening round him. It was only in the latter stages of the novel that he could admit to it.
The most upsetting parts the novel were the penultimate chapters, where the feelings of the entire country were shown with a court case and in a single radio interview with someone it was impossible to understand and forgive. The pain suffered by the victims and their families didn’t matter to those who could have done something.
If there was one part of this novel I could remember with positivity was seeing how one victim managed to rebuild his life, raise a family and forgive. There would be many.
I found this novel an extremely difficult novel to read, to the extent that I read one chapter at a time with a maximum of three a day. But I don’t regret it

I lent this audio via BorrowBox. I’ve had this book for ages and thought I’d take it with me today via audio and listen to it.

This is a poignant story based in Ireland of events of sexual abuse, emotional abuse and psychological abuse. Thank god it’s not too graphic. But still as awful to read.

The resilience of human spirit never ceases to astound me.