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Danielle McLaughlin makes the transition from short story to first novel with this family drama set in Cork, where absolutely everyone is flawed, writes Aoife O’Regan
We first meet Art historian Nessa McCormack at her daughter’s school, where the teenager has been acting out and her concerned teacher is wondering if all is well at home.
As it happens, Nessa has been struggling to forgive and forget, after uncovering her husband Philip’s affair with another school mom. So far, so familiar plot-wise, until we learn that Nessa has some past indiscretions of her own that she’s keeping secret.
‘Some things are too late to fix’, she reasons, ‘all we can do is not make them any worse’. Life is complicated further by the arrival of an odd woman, Melanie Doerr, claiming ownership of The Chalk Sculpture, a celebrated piece of art at Nessa’s gallery. Nessa is an expert on the artist in question and his work, and she isn’t convinced at first, but is curious enough to investigate.
