ORDINARY HUMAN FAILINGS

While Nolan's novel begins as a police procedural, it soon evolves, with the help of narrator Jessica Regan, into a study of hereditary hopelessness. In England, as police investigate the murder of a small child, the novel pulls back the curtain on life in the 1990s with a focus on political and social forces of the period. Regan's prodigious range guides the portrayal of the desperate Green family and is both heartrending and dour. This family of Irish immigrants fled their homeland when their teen daughter, Carmel, turned up pregnant and son, Ritchie, dove deeper and deeper into alcoholism. Reagan uses an empathetic tone to portray characters who are carrying generational trauma. R.O. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine [Published: FEBRUARY 2024]