Source: Review copy from the publisher, Transworld – thank you.
It’s about time that I actually wrote some reviews, but this is a good plae to start because, wow! I loved this book. It’s a comic novel about a dysfunctional but quirky family, yet manages to explore family dynamics and sibling rivalry seriously underneath, with a strong dose of online grooming, activism and corruption that add a thriller finish on the side. It begins, however, in the local church where Father Andrew has a problem…
The gnat situation in the church was getting out of hand. It was Miss Winkle’s fault, she had brought the gnats and this was unforgivable, not in the eyes of God but those of Father Andrew, who was unable to exterminate the gnats, not for lack of trying—he’d employed ever trap, spray, and swatter on the modern market—and yet his efforts had little effect on the greater gnat population. If anything, it was growing.
The gnats were in the soil of a plant she’d brought in for decoration. So far, so good, but then I turned the page, and came upon what I thought was a typo, ‘she never dognated.’ but a page or so on we had another word with the letters ‘nat’ spelt ‘gnat’. This is a splendid running joke, and I found myself looking out for the occurrences, and it convinced me that there would be some great comedic moments to come.
Enter into the vestry – Harper, at twelve or thirteen, the youngest of the three Flynn girls.
Father Andrew fancied himself a progressive priest, but the Flynn’s marital “arrangement” seemed neither exploratory in the swinging-sixties sense nor justified in the new age liberal poly-whathaveyou sense but rather a creative avenue through which each spouse could inflict pain upon the other and their three daughters.
As a consequence of this, the Flynn household is in freefall. It was Catherine who instigated the arrangement, taking a fancy for neighbour Jim, and totally against Bud’s wishes. Bud, near suicidal, has moved into the minivan on the drive. The Abigail. Louise and Harper are each doing their own things, unchecked by parental constraints. Abigail, the eldest, is dating ‘War Crime Wes’ a twenty-something who ‘did some crazy shit in the war’; Louise is corresponding online with a terrorist who is masquerading as her Canadian lover and wants her to learn to speak Arabic; and Harper. who is obviously neurodivergent, speaks seven languages, gets into trouble at school repeatedly.
“Why Harper?” her mother had pleaded. “Why would you but the little Carlyle girl?” “Because,” said Harper, “she said bite me?”
We will follow the individual stories of the Flynns throughout the novel, always hoping that the family will come out of everything well. But there are obstacles on the way for all of them that made me chuckle but also generated huge sympathy for this family. I particularly bonded with Bud and Harper, who are perhaps the most fully realised characters. Catherine was harder to like, but once she discovers that an open marriage is not all she had imagined, the reality hits her hard – and by this time we’ve grown to love her too. But is it too late? I won’t say more about what happens there. Father Andrew and Miss Winkle will also keep playing roles in their lives, particularly Miss Winkle who runs a self-help group called Lost Lambs at the church, to which Bud reluctantly starts to go to, to sort himself out.
I implied that the novel turned from the domestic drama into a thriller, and indeed it does, really taking off in the last third of the novel. This is all related to Alabaster Harbour TM,always with the ‘TM’, a shipping company owned by billionaire Paul Alabaster, who lives in a fancy glass house in a huge walled estate nearby. Bud is the accounts and systems manager for the company, and it’s when he discovers some discrepancies in the shipping manifests that things start to get exciting in a different way. Mr Alabaster is famed for his annual parties, about which much is said, but little of which is fact. To be invited is to have reached the pinnacle locally, and Abigail, the eldest and most beautiful of the Flynn girls received one. Everyone warns her not to go, so War Crimes Wes gets a job as security so he can keep an eye on her there. He’s sure she’s been invited for all the wrong reasons, but has no proof. And things do kick off and get nasty – I couldn’t possibly say more!!!
This novel was such fun. Although the author is a New Yorker, a strong Irish-American flavour came through for me – why else would she have named her family ‘Flynn’? It would certainly appeal to anyone who enjoys contemporary Irish family dramas. It was clear that Cash had great fun writing these characters, who all shine off the page. She really makes you feel for them, even as they get themselves into increasingly more comic and desperate situations. Hilarious and touching, this was a fine debut in deed. Highly recommended.
See also: Susan’s review.
Madeline Cash, Lost Lambs, Transworld/Doubleday hardback, 336 pages. BUY at Waterstones via my affiliate link.
