Book review: Emilie Pine's debut novel reinforces her reputation as an empathetic writer
Emilie Pine released a book of essays, ‘Notes To Self’, in 2018. Now, she has released her debut novel ‘Ruth & Pen’.
Ireland has enjoyed a golden era of essay writing over the past half-decade or so, particularly deeply personal ones, and none more devastating than Emilie Pine’s Notes to Self, unvarnished examinations of infertility, depression, and alcoholic fathers. Book of the Year 2018 at the Irish Book Awards, Pine, professor of modern drama at University College Dublin, has followed it up with debut novel Ruth & Pen.
Set on a single day when everything seems on edge, as a climate protest takes hold in Dublin, it follows Ruth, a therapist who herself seems at breaking point, and neurodivergent teen Pen, who needs “not so much a label as strategies to calm the world’s chaos”. Told from their alternate perspectives — with a handful of other key voices sprinkled in — as the day creeps along, Pine says it’s about what happens when you stop asking the world for permission to be yourself.
