The Lives of Women

(Paperback, Main)

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Description

Following a long absence spent in New York, Elaine Nichols returns to her childhood home to live with her invalid father and his geriatric Alsatian dog. The house backing on to theirs is sold and as she watches the old furniture stack up on the lawn, Elaine is brought back to a summer in the 1970s.

She is almost sixteen again and this small out-of-town estate is an enclave for women and children while the men are mysterious shadows who leave every day for the outside world. The women are isolated but keep their loneliness and frustrations hidden behind a veneer of suburban respectability. When an American divorcee and her daughter move into the estate, the veneer begins to crack. The women learn how to socialise, how to drink martinis in the afternoon, how to care less about their wifely and maternal duties.

While the women are distracted, Elaine and her friends find their own entry into the adult world and the result is a tragic event that will mark the rest of Elaine's life and be the cause of her long and guilt-ridden exile.

Insightful and full of suspense, this is an uncompromising portrayal of the suburbs and the cruelties brought about by the demands of respectability.

Reviews

This study of suburbia shows how the "savagery of respectability" can wreck lives... A reflection on neglect that engages right to the shocking end. * Psychologies *
One of Ireland's most lauded modern writers, Christine Dwyer Hickey teases out the strands of her story... It leaves the reader with the aftertaste of regret for their own what might have been... * Daily Mail *
As the compelling narrative alternates between Elaine's teenage summer and her present-day loneliness, Dwyer Hickey offers a devastating picture of suburban isolation. * Irish Times *
A stunning portrait of a section of '70s Ireland... The Lives of Women is a wonderful read - thought provoking and compelling - and is, to my mind, Christine's best to date. * Irish Examiner *
[A] richly textured, insightful and uncompromising look at life in unforgiving 1970s Ireland. Another triumph for this talented and original writer. * Irish Independent *
Dwyer Hickey is as astute in conveying everyday conversation as dark events... It left me with that vague, almost physical chest ache one feels on experiencing great sadness. * Independent on Sunday *
A beautiful, suspenseful look at life in the suburbs and the compromises required by the expectations of society. * Sunday World *
Insightful and full of suspense, this is an uncompromising portrayal of the suburbs... Here is a novel that will truly make us think about the lives of women. * Newstalk *

Author Bio

Christine Dwyer Hickey is an award-winning novelist and short-story writer. Twice winner of the Listowel Writers' Week short story competition, she was also a prize-winner in the prestigious Observer/Penguin short story competition. Her bestselling novel Tatty was chosen as one of the 50 Irish Books of the Decade, longlisted for the Orange Prize and shortlisted for the Hughes & Hughes Irish Novel of the Year Award, for which her novel The Dancer was also shortlisted. Last Train from Liguria, was nominated for the Prix L'Europ.en de Litt.rature. Her latest novel The Cold Eye of Heaven won Irish Novel of the Year 2012 and was nominated for the IMPAC 2013 award. She lives in Dublin.