Book reviews: Three captivating novels by women writers engaging from the outset

Tina Neylon selects her books of 2023: two of her chosen novels are debuts and all three are by female authors

Anne Tiernan's 'The Last Days of Joy' is an unforgettable novel, hugely enjoyable, absorbing, and thought-provoking. Picture: Maree Wilkinson

One of the debuts is The Last Days of Joy by Anne Tiernan (Hachette Books Ireland, €14.99) which explores a number of themes, among them addiction, mental health, and relationships.

Joy is dying. She’s a complicated woman, who has spent her life trying to run away from her past while bringing up her children on her own. 

She fled with them from Ireland to New Zealand but, despite the geographical distance, she failed to escape events in her past which continued to haunt her, so they suffered.

Her three children rush to her bedside. Conor, the eldest, is a high-profile CEO, a high achiever, but currently teetering on the brink of self-destruction. 

Wife and mother Frances is about to make a decision which could destroy her marriage. 

The youngest, Sinead, has returned to live in Ireland, and was a very successful writer a decade ago but now has writer’s block.

Joy’s approaching death acts as a catalyst, for the first time they are honest about the past and themselves. 

Their childhoods, influenced by tragedy and addiction, have affected them in different ways. 

All three have reached a crossroads in their lives, facing decisions which will influence their futures.

Conor has never really grown up. He longs for acceptance and hides his self-doubt under the veneer of a successful career. 

Frances has tried to be the perfect wife and mother. But now she considers a return to her past, which threatens the relationships she cares most about.

Sinead is haunted by her desire to write and not being able to do so.

The Last Days of Joy by Anne Tiernan

The novel is narrated by each of them in turn, including Joy. Its settings echo the author’s own experience — she grew up in Ireland but now lives in New Zealand. 

She writes with convincing openness about issues which are always challenging, including mental health and addictions.

She explores relationships between mothers and children and between siblings, with all the nuances, misunderstandings and hurts they felt years before and how they continue to affect them.

What makes it so impressive is that each of the four characters is fully realised, with a distinct voice.

Although it explores serious issues, it is at times very funny. Each of the characters is dysfunctional and charismatic, which is quite an achievement.

Despite all the sad and hurtful experiences the characters endure, there is always an underlying warmth towards each other. The author handles its sensitive content with good humour and, ultimately leaves the reader with a message of hope.

It’s an unforgettable novel, hugely enjoyable, absorbing and thought-provoking. The only surprise is that it’s her debut.

Go As a River by Shelley Read (Doubleday, €16.99) is also unforgettable. It spans the period just after the Second World War to the Vietnam War, 1948 to 1971, and is set in rural Colorado in what was a real village called Iola, which was destroyed to make way for the Blue Mesa Dam in 1966.

This beautifully written debut is narrated by Victoria, known as Torie. She’s 17 when the novel opens. She’s helping her father and brother run the family peach farm, having lost her mother, aunt and a cousin she loved in an accident years before. 

She’s expected to carry out domestic and farming work, a role she has fallen into as that was what was expected of a young female growing up in that area at the time.

She meets an interesting young man one day. He’s a Native American, who arrived in Iola by hopping on a train after running away from working in a coalmine.

Torie’s meeting with Wilson Moon, known as Wil, changes her life. 

He’s confident without being cocky and he has a wisdom beyond his years. It’s his advice to ‘go as a river’ which will influence Torie for the rest of her life.

The love which quickly develops between the two young people is believable and touching. 

Due to the endemic racism in rural Colorado it leads to tragedy, and Torie has to face terrible challenges.

Shelley Read writes lyrically of the landscapes and the wildlife that inhabits them, some predatory. 

Go As A River by Shelley Read

The village of Iola lay in the foothills of the Elk Mountains which are covered in lush forests with the River Gunnison, which Torie loves, running through the valley. Her novel is an elegy for an area destroyed by progress, its population dispersed.

While Torie is changed by the challenges she has to face, she not only survives but thrives. 

When the valley is due to be drowned to create the dam, she transfers her family peach farm, tree by tree, to a new area safe from the waters. Some of the locals criticise her, believing she has sold out, but she faces them down.

Through her life she follows Wil’s advice, not allowing herself to be felled by grief or distracted by anger, instead she adapts and carries on.

Shelley Read's 'Go As  A River' is a captivating novel, impossible to put down and one which will be remembered long after reading it. Picture: Andi Tippie

Because of her awful experiences she retains her compassion for others who are marginalised. Among them is the tragic and interesting character Ruby-Alice, although she had been brought up to avoid her.

Torie doesn’t agree with her fellow locals and their wariness of outsiders or anyone they see as strange, although she does understand their attitudes.

Shelley Read creates a wonderfully convincing and lovable character in Torie. It’s a captivating novel, impossible to put down and one which will be remembered long after reading it.

The End of Us by Olivia Kiernan (riverrun, €19.99) is the first standalone novel by the author of the Frankie Sheehan series of crime novels set in Dublin.

From its opening we know there’s been a murder but who has been killed? We are also told that something happened after a dinner party — but what? 

The reader is driven to find out. It’s a tense, absorbing psychological thriller, which moves at a relentless pace.

The setting is Wimbledon, where Myles and Lana Butler live in a gated new development called Belvedere Court. 

They are just about managing to pay their mortgage, but then one of Myles’s investments fails. This threatens their lifestyle and what is worse is that Myles has not given Lana any warning.

He has been hiding their serious financial problems from her.

New neighbours Gabriel and Holly Wright seem sophisticated, ambitious and wealthy. Gabriel is a surgeon, while Myles is a GP. 

Invited to dinner with them, the Butlers share their financial worries, and the Wrights suggest a solution — life insurance fraud. 

For a portion of the pay-off, the Wrights offer to help them. It all seems like a fantasy, and there’s no agreement to accept the idea. 

Shortly afterwards Lana vanishes, and Myles realises that the plot is going ahead.

What makes this psychological thriller more successful and enjoyable than many others is the unusual plot and the characters. 

There’s little to like about narrator Myles, Lana, Gabriel, or Holly, but then we see them all through his eyes. 

He seems to like very few people, among them Sofia, the wife of Nathan who owns the private surgery where he works. But then she likes him, so that may explain him favouring her.

The End of Us by Olivia Kiernan

Myles believes that Lana will leave him if she finds out they are no longer prosperous, which reveals a lot about their marriage. Indeed, when she does find out her first reaction is anger. 

Myles is an amoral person, a totally believable and compelling character, who has been driven since childhood to succeed, regardless of how that affects others. 

He did have a rather miserable time growing up, as his mother left after his father’s business failed, and the latter became an alcoholic. To Myles, material wealth is a sign of his worth.

This novel is unpredictable, ingenious and brilliantly written.

It’s a dark, twisted and satisfying read, which never lets up its pace.