Merry

This was a short book, but deserves a great deal of praise. It’s the story of a woman in 1950’s Ireland, coming to the end of her life and finding herself on the margins of everyone else’s life. Annie Dunne is a story where the plot turns are minuscule but what they mean to the characters are huge and everything about each small set of events seems to illustrate more clearly how the world is dragging on tired limbs and a weary body. The book is populated by characters who have known each other for a life time, dropping in and out of each others existence with the inevitability of family ties and small town life and the endless dance that long intimacy and knowledge brings.

It’s really a very beautiful book, a quick but worthwhile read and on offer for Kindle readers just now.