You know you’re having a great read when you are loathe to put the book down. “Lace” is just such a book. It evokes in the reader every emotion, tears and smiles…
This is a heart-rending story of an Irish family with whom fate has dealt many harsh and brutal blows. In particular, we follow the story of Mary, the middle child of five.
When the family patriarch dies, his wife and five children are left destitute. In the early 1900s, a time before social aid was commonplace, the mother had little choice but to leave her children in an orphanage, while she endeavoured to train for employment as a nurse. At the time, Mary was just six years old.
The orphanage was a cold and brutal place. Run by Catholic nuns who were the very opposite of pious, the children in their charge were worked hard, fed little, and abused in the most sadistic of ways.
In a later timeline, Mary is married and has just given birth to a daughter of her own. Her husband is of mixed racial heritage and she experiences prejudice by association. She cannot bond with her daughter as her childhood traumas have damaged her in many ways.
“There was no point, she decided, in loving anyone because in one way or another they always left you.”
The writing was truly a delight to read. The prose was both poignant and beautifully written, and was as complex and delicate as the title, “Lace”. The descriptions are vividly rendered and gut-wrenching in their authenticity.
With themes of family, child abuse, poverty, loss, racial discrimination, forgiveness, and trauma it is a story that sears the heart of the reader. So much packed into such a short book. Highly recommended!
This review was written voluntarily and my rating was in no way influenced by the fact that I received a complimentary digital copy of this novel from Honno, Welsh Women’s Press via Anne Cater in order to participate in this blog tour. It was published by Honno, Welsh Women’s Press on July 18, 2024.
ISBN: 9781912905744 – 200 pages
CATRIN KEAN was awarded a place on the Hay Festival
Writers At Work scheme for emerging writers from 2016 – 18. Her short stories have been published in Riptide Journal, Bridge House Anthologies, The Ghastling, and Syncopation Journal. Her debut novel ‘Salt‘ won the 2021 Rhys Davies Fiction award, the Wales Arts Review
People’s Choice Award, and the overall Wales Book of the Year Award. “Lace” is her second novel. She lives in the Garw Valley, Wales with her partner and three ridgeback dogs.
Connect with Catrin Kean via Twitter ; and/or Instagram.
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