#BookReview of #TheIrishGoodbye by Heather Aimee O’Neill

‘Three adult sisters reunited at their childhood home must
confront a shared tragedy in The Irish Goodbye’

[ About The Irish Goodbye ]

It’s been years since the three Ryan sisters were all home together at their family’s beloved house on Long Island. Two decades ago, their lives were upended by a tragic accident on their brother Topher’s boat that drove him to suicide. Now, the Ryan women are back for Thanksgiving, but each carries a heavy secret.

The eldest, Cait, is still holding guilt for the role no one knows she played in the boat accident, when she rekindles a flame with her high school crush, Topher’s best friend. Middle sister, Alice, has been thrown a curveball threatening her career and, potentially, her marriage. And the youngest, Maggie, is finally taking the risk to bring the woman she loves home to her devoutly Catholic mother.

When Cait invites a guest to Thanksgiving dinner, old tensions boil over and new truths surface. Far more than a family holiday will be ruined unless the sisters can find a way to forgive themselves – and each other.

[ My Review ]

The Irish Goodbye by Heather Aimee O’Neill published February 5th with Mantle and is described as ‘a devastatingly beautiful debut novel’.

In truth I have no idea of the origin of the term an Irish Goodbye. As an Irish person I can honestly say that I have never used it but I do know its meaning, having seen it online over the years. An Irish Goodbye is when someone sneaks away from a gathering without saying goodbye. In Heather Aimee O’Neill’s novel, she uses the term for quite a different, and much more poignant reason, that becomes clear as the chapters turn.

The Ryan family have lived on Long Island for generations in a rambling house that has seen better days but has always been home to the three Ryan sisters and their, now elderly, parents. Twenty-five years after a tragic accident that upended the whole family, they are reuniting for Thanksgiving, the first such gathering in awhile. Cáit, Alice and Maggie have the sister dynamic you would expect but there is a constant shadow overhanging their relationship, the suicide of their brother Topher (Christopher) some years previously. Topher had been unsettled over the years, travelling across the globe searching for something, or quite possibly trying to escape something, but he could never outrun himself or his thoughts. Following his death the already decimated family crumble. Cáit moves to London, and marries in haste. Maggie relocates with a teaching position but never quite lives the life she dreams of. Alice, always the reliable one, stays near home, marries a teacher and has sons. All three sister are unfulfilled with their lives but none are prepared to admit their feelings.

Their mother, Nora, originally from Co. Cork, is a staunch Catholic with great faith but even her beliefs are shook following the death of her only boy. Their father, Robert, is starting to give them all concern as he is beginning to make mistakes and be forgetful. The family home is in disrepair but, with no funds readily available, there is a real fear that this may be their last time together under its roof.

Over the few days internal relationships come under the spotlight with old grievances surfacing and some home truths being told. Each of the sisters have issues and all have become experts at avoiding reality over the years but now the time has come for flaws to be exposed and for differences to be accepted but can the Ryan family survive such honesty or is it too late?

The Irish Goodbye is a gentle novel with all the feels and, as a Cork woman, I did appreciate the mention of Barry’s Tea! As the Ryan family come to terms with loss in all its various forms, they also begin to realise that life is a balance of give and take on all sides. Sentimentality permeates through the novel and, anyone who has sisters, will immediately connect with the sibling dynamic and the inter-rivalry that exists no matter the age. For readers with elderly parents there is also a connection to the novel, as the reality of seeing our parents grow old, and the realisation that they too had unfulfilled dreams and ambitions, is made all too clear.

Written with a great sense of compassion, The Irish Goodbye is a charming read, with a melancholy edge, highlighting the complexities of the family dynamic, especially after tragedy darkens its door. A heartfelt debut.

[ Thank you to Mantle/Pan McMillan for a copy of The Irish Goodbye in exchange for my honest review]

[ Bio ]

Heather Aimee O’Neill is the Assistant Director of the Sackett Street Writers’ Workshop and the author of the poetry collection Obliterations (Red Hen Press / co-authored with Jessica Piazza) and the poetry chapbook Memory Future (Gold Line Press Award). As a writing teacher and developmental editor, she has helped hundreds of writers tell their stories. She lives in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, with her wife and two sons.
This is her first novel.