This short novel reflects on the marriage of Alice to Eddie and her affair with Cauley, from the perspective of Alice as an older woman who has had a successful career and is just recovering from the death of her mother. She looks back on her sudden marriage after visiting Ireland from the USA, noting the intensity of her feelings, her restlessness as a young wife, and the self-destructiveness and excitement of her affair. The narrator shifts around in time, starting with the affair, going back to the marriage, coming to the present when Alice is living in Ireland again, taking a break from work, and to the more recent past, when she would spend time with her mother and stepfather, and then when after her stepfather died, and so on. Gradually the details of the story emerge, although it’s never particularly clear to Alice why she transgressed on her marriage vows, What’s particularly good about the novel is McCloskey’s portrayal of the simultaneous thrill and sadness of being in an illicit relationship, sneaking around and taking risks, with the future pain and endings all too imminent, but deferred for the present moment. This is a distinctive work that evokes small town Ireland from the perspective of a visitor, capturing a sense that everything is temporary in a country where tradition rules so much of life. It’s a pleasing work.

© 2018 Christian Perring

Christian Perring teaches in NYC.