I find this book extremely flawed, yet full of heart. I know that because I really sobbed at the end. I wish this novel had been just about Rosaleen, honestly, and a little about Phil and Maggie and Ed. Everyone else, honestly, seemed superfluous. Suffering from what so many contemporary novels do, there are too many characters and not enough time or perhaps understanding for them. When it’s good it’s really good, the writing is poignant and heartfelt, but the massive cast of characters and political commentaries felt unfulfilling far more often than not. Rosaleen, I love you, and had tears in my eyes almost every time you were on the page. 

But still; one story of Rosaleen’s life is this: she is a woman, she sits in the pub, and forty years ago, in a cold bed in Dublin, she held a girl from behind.