Reviewed by Emma Crowley
One explosive family reunion. A lifetime of secrets revealed.
When four feisty women from the same family, get together at a family reunion, anything can happen…
Marie-Claire, betrayed by her partner Marc plans her revenge to teach him a lesson he will never forget. She travels from Toronto, home to Ireland, to the house of the Four Winds, for her great aunt Reverend Mother Brigid’s eightieth birthday celebrations. It will be a long-awaited reunion for three generations of family, bringing together her mother, Keelin and grandmother, Imelda - who have never quite got along.
And then all hell breaks loose.
Bitter, jealous Imelda makes a shocking revelation that forces them all to confront their pasts, admit mistakes, and face the truths that have shaped their lives. With four fierce, opinionated women in one family, will they ever be able to forgive the past and share a future?
And what of Marc?
It’s never too late to make amends…or is it?
Many thanks to Simon and Schuster UK via NetGalley for my copy of A Family Reunion to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
It’s been so long since I read a book by Patricia Scanlan, who in the past has been a firm favourite of mine, being one of the excellent Irish writers I began to read in my late teens. I can’t for the life of me figure out why I haven’t read anything recently by this wonderful author as I thoroughly enjoyed this new book, A Family Reunion, now published in paperback. Since it’s hardback publication last year it has had a title change. It had been called The Liberation of Brigid Dunne and I can see why it would have been called that but I think this new cover and title will be sure to appeal to many more readers. It’s a long book at just over 500 pages in length but I didn’t feel as if it was a chore to read it. Instead I read huge chunks in one sitting and I found the chapters flew by as I became immersed in the story of three generations of women and how a family reunion changes their landscape forever. Old secrets, bitter resentments and many jealousies come exploding to the surface after having been kept buried for many many years.
The format of the book was perfect. We began as members of the family reunite as Sister. Brigid is celebrating her 80th birthday and her retirement at Four Winds House. Marie Claire, her niece, is coming back from Toronto. Her mother Keelin is visiting with her husband Armand from France and Imelda, her mother and Brigid’s sister, is reluctantly going to the celebration. Each of the women has had their own struggles in the past and for some they still exist in the present. Issues surrounding their family history, events that have occurred and their inability to express their feelings start to simmer to the surface and revelations come right out into the open when Imelda just can’t keep a lid on things anymore. What she says sends shockwaves through the family and a rift ensues but to understand the context for such hatred, bile and animosity to be unleashed we have to go back in time to learn of Brigid’s, Imelda and Keelin’s individual stories.
Marie Claire features more in the present and in a way she is the glue that binds the three aforementioned women together. Without her a deep chasm would open and remain so for many years. Marie Claire is dealing with her own problems as she has just discovered her boyfriend Marc has been cheating on her. Just when she thought her life and career were moving up a gear she is thrown off kilter by what she discovers. She doesn’t actually confront Marc with what she knows instead she leaves for Ireland arriving unexpectedly at the reunion much to the delight of her family. I wished she would have been stronger and made a clean break from Marc but it was like she couldn’t admit to herself that he wasn’t as perfect as she had believed him to be. Time away from her situation to become absorbed in family life once more may give her the fresh perspective that she needs but little does she bargain on the many announcements that are revealed by Imelda in a fit of rage. Can her family be pieced back together or has too much damage been done?
Once the reunion and birthday has been explored we are taken back in time to an Ireland that is very different to the one we live in today. The author does a fantastic job of exploring the way society was run and how women didn’t have a very strong place in it. Rather they were constrained and bound by family duty and obligations and dictated to by the church. It shows just how far we have come as a country and that in the past women were supressed for their views and anything that happened outside the norms of family life that would draw attention to or damage the reputation of a family would have disastrous consequences. Ireland has a very tainted history when it comes to the way the Church dominated everything and I don’t think the lives of Brigid, Imelda and Keelin would have gone on the path in which they did were it not for the rules and regulations imposed by the Church. It seems so backwards and so out of touch with how we live today and it is a stark remainder that this wasn’t all that long ago.
Imelda and Brigid live on the family farm with their parents and brothers. Imelda is the younger sister who from the outset always seemed to have such a chip on her shoulder. She is insanely jealous of Brigid and doesn’t have a great relationship with her. My initial impressions were that none of them were completely happy and Imelda allowed her anger and what she viewed as an injustice done to her to fester for so long that she just couldn’t help herself when the opportunity arose so many years later to get everything out in the open. When Brigid decides to enter the convent Imelda allows her self pity to increase and she starts to hold a grudge against her sister. She feels as if she is left to a life of slavery looking after her granny and parents and that no good life opportunities will come her way. Of course her life does go on to change and she marries and has a family of her own but still these insecurities of hers multiply.
It’s only when we reach the point where her own particular story is explored that you can begin to feel any shred of sympathy or understanding for her .Yet at the same time I did think a lot of her wrongdoings and the opinions she held were of her own creation. She came across as bitter and closed off and not a person able to fully relax and open up and allow love and contentment into her life. Her personality and stance affected those around her and you couldn’t blame the various characters for the way they felt about her. It’s only as we near the end and the group of women take a religious and spiritual tour of sorts to Iona and the surrounding area that Imelda reveals her true self and things made much more sense. Yet her actions with regard to both Keelin and Brigid, I’m not so sure would I have been as forthcoming with my forgiveness.
Brigid is a complex character who wrestles with her conscience throughout the story. She harbours a deep secret that has eaten away at her ever since she entered the convent. It seemed to be me a rash decision was made on her part to become a nun in order to escape country life and I sensed there had to be a much deeper reason behind it. Whether it was the right thing or not to do remained to be seen for a very long time. Brigid known as mere to Marie Claire and Keelin was the anthesis of Imelda and I think this really got Imelda’s back up. Why do her daughter and granddaughter turn to their Aunt for advice and support rather than her? Brigid was calm and serene on the outside and for many years worked on the missions in Africa, helping children and families. She is dedicated to this work but there is always a little sense of the rebel about her that she doesn’t always conform to the rules and regulations imposed by the Church and convent. Yet she would never leave and I questioned what was keeping her there and what was her dark secret?
Brigid was a real matriarchal figure and her life could have been ruined despite her great age. Instead she turns a nasty experience into one which will benefit her and change her outlook. Maybe it was the right time for everything to be brought out into the open. She begins to question herself and the many indoctrinations of the church. She feels as if she has been brainwashed to think in one way and that there are in fact many other possibilities and opinions out there. She starts to realise that the Church uses suppression as a form of control upon the lives of those who ‘work’ for it and the women of Ireland. Women’s inequality and the church and state control is expertly highlighted throughout the book but not done so in an overbearing manner.
As for Keelin, to me she was the most free spirited of them all and with Armand she had found her comfort zone running retreats in France. But she too harboured her own secret which I must say was very surprising. I found her journey that we read of in the past really helped me to understand her and the relationship she had with both Marie Claire and Brigid in the present. I think Keelin couldn’t connect at all to Imelda as a mother and one action of Imelda’s in particular damaged the mother daughter relationship almost beyond repair. Keelin experienced a similar journey to that of Brigid’s but the path that she threaded was a very different one. Through her experiences another aspect of Irish history was explored and my sense of injustice grew and grew.
I think Patricia Scanlan did a fantastic job of highlighting the many faults of Ireland as a state and how we have been dominated by the Church’s control and its teachings. You will perhaps want to stop every so often and look up bits of information which will enhance your understanding and appreciation of the brilliant story that unfolded. I thoroughly enjoyed A Family Reunion, yes there are aspects that will divide opinion but I know what side I am planted on. This book has reignited my love for Patricia’s writing and I look forward to reading her next book.
Thanks for the blog tour support Sharon and Emma x
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