‘THEY SAY YOU CAN NEVER MAKE NEW OLD FRIENDS‘
– Greener
[ About Greener ]
As teenagers, Helen, Annie and Laura were inseparable, bonding over family, boys and their dreams for the future. But when school ended, so did their friendship.
Twenty-five years later, a snowstorm forces the three women to spend time together, leaving them wondering if they can reconcile the gap between who they are and who they used to be.
[ My Review ]
Greener by Gráinne Murphy is published by Legend Press (April 18th) and is described as ‘an exploration of the changing dynamics of adult friendships and asks whether old friends can ever let us become new people.’
Gráinne Murphy is a local Cork writer who has deservedly been making a name for herself as one whose work has a very affecting impact. Her last novel Winter People, which I described as a novel of reflection, garnered huge praise and was listed in the Irish Examiner Best Books of 2022.
Greener sheds light on friendship and how it can change and develop through the years. Helen, Annie and Laura were childhood best friends. They laughed and cried together, shared secrets and were inseparable. But, like many relationships, they eventually all went their separate ways. Now, twenty-five years later, unexpected circumstances throw all three together and they are struggling to pick up where they left off.
The recent Covid pandemic provides the backdrop for this novel, with loose references made about masks and PCR tests but at no time are we made to relive the trauma of those years again. Helen’s father is unwell and is being cared for at home. Helen has been unable to visit due to the restrictions but, during a period of relaxation, when limited travel is a viable option, she has run out of excuses and returns home.
Helen, now married with children, lives a very structured almost formal existence. Growing up as an only child, she often felt surplus to her parent’s marriage. Never short of any luxury in life, she lived in a beautiful gated family home, but she often felt like an extra. Her father was a well-established soap-opera actor, coming home on weekends only, and during the weekdays her mother complained of headaches and tiredness, retiring to her room, leaving Helen alone.
Annie was reared by a loving but strict mother. Choosing a career in nursing, Annie had plans. She was in a relationship and felt her life was where it should be. But, as the years passed, circumstances changed and Annie found herself stuck in the place she grew up in, with her life virtually on hold.
Laura was a newcomer to the friend group. Raised by her mother, following a tragic accident that took the life of her father, Laura was very much aware of the challenges her mother faced. She was never short on love but there were times when she envied Helen and her beautiful family home. After her education, Laura did travel overseas but now she is home with a much different perspective on life.
Helen, Annie and Laura lost contact and, in the intervening years, they just got on with their lives. When all three are thrown together, they tentatively explore what they had, what they have now and what they could have in the future. With Gráinne Murphy’s masterful pen, the reader is taken on a very emotional and wistful journey as the three women examine the remnants of their friendship. Extremely poignant scenes unfold as father-daughter and mother-daughter relationships are probed, with parental aging taking centre stage.
On Gráinne Murphy’s website there is a wonderful description that states that ‘her work often reflects her interest in family and identity, in those bittersweet moments where we have to stare life down and choose who we want to be.’ This sentence encapsulates Greener, a novel that will resonate with so many of us. We all have lost and found friends, we all experience the painful process of witnessing a parent age and we all experience grief.
Reading Greener focuses our minds on these life-experiences and sensitively reminds us all of how fragile we, and our lives, really are. Human relationships are extraordinary and sometimes we are all so very guilty of taking them for granted. We need to value our friendships more. We need to learn to love ourselves more. If we are lucky enough, we need to look at our parents and value the sacrifices made and the love and care given unconditionally.
Greener offers an introspective reading experience that demonstrates beautifully what a dazzling writer Gráinne Murphy is. Bursting with profound prose and written with a lightness of hand, Greener is a tender and elegant novel, a gorgeous examination of life and friendship. Bravo Gráinne!
** I would like to take this opportunity to thank Legend Press for my proof copy of Greener in return for my honest review
[ Bio ]
Gráinne Murphy grew up and currently resides in rural West Cork, working as a self-employed language editor specialising in human rights and environmental issues. Some of Gráinne’s earlier novels were shortlisted for the Caledonia Novel Award 2019, the Irish Writers’ Centre Novel Fair 2019, the Luke Bitmead Bursary 2016 and the Virginia Prize for Fiction 2014. In short fiction, her story Further West placed third in the Zoetrope All-Story Contest 2018, and was long-listed for the Sunday Times Audible short story award in 2021.
Gráinne’s debut novel Where the Edge Is was published in September 2020. The Ghostlights was published in 2021, followed by Winter People in 2022 and Greener in Spring 2024. All are published by Legend Press.
Twitter: @GraMurphy
Sounds wonderful.
Rosie Gráinne is incredible. If you pop over to her IG feed, she has posted a short reading this morning