Kent is probably one of the best new novelists to emerge recently in Australia, but her books are far from an easy read. She confronts the dark side of the human psyche again with this narrative set in Ireland in the 1820s in a remote village where dire poverty, superstition and hopelessness confront the unlucky inhabitants. A disabled child is cruelly tortured by people who believe he is a changeling stolen by the fairies, a case of infanticide, women who struggle to survive in this harsh environment and one who does escape – but to what? Is anywhere better in this grim place?
Does it have any relevance for us today apart from reminding us of what human nature can descend to if diminished by lack of education and hope?
Kent creates a believable but unpleasant picture of this time but softens it with her lyrical descriptions of the countryside in Western Ireland. If you enjoyed her first book “Burial Rights’ you will want to read this.
Meg Dillon