Emma Donoghue is acclaimed author of Room, which I never read. But her writing prowess is well known and I was looking forward to reading this novel set in Ireland in 1918.

Description: Nurse Julia Power finds herself on duty (alone) in the maternity ward. It’s the height of the great flu. Beds are full. She’s managing 3 women, in basically a broom cupboard, and begs for some help. She is left with Bridie Sweeney, who has basically been pulled off the street by a nun and told to help. Thankfully Bridie is a quick learner, and she and Julie become fast friends during a hectic 3-day period where they lose patients, help others birth their babies, and somehow manage to help the only female doctor evade police.

The characters and setting are vividly portrayed and I heard Emma Donoghue interviewed on CBC talking about the research she did into medical practices in Ireland at the time. Fascinating. And frightening.

In 1918, Ireland is post-war but the tragedy is still felt and now the flu is another heart-wrenching reminder of how quickly loved ones can be lost. The women giving birth and attending are so young. Nurse Power is the senior at 30 years old.

I really enjoyed this read.

Favourite Moment: There are many touching moments in this book and I fear that by mentioning any details, I’ll ruin it for someone. So instead, the book opens with Nurse Power pedalling her bicycle to the hospital but taking side routes and the tram as a way to evade the scolding eyes of her superiors who frown on women cyclists. Ah, what a time.

The perfect read for fans of Emma Donoghue and anyone who watches Call the Midwife. If you like Emily St. John Mandel (Station Eleven) or Jeannette Walls (The Glass Castle) then this is kind of between the two. Pandemic meets family hardships, with a hint of humour and levity.

Description: This novel is so widely reviewed, and loved, that I waited to read it. Such a great read. Highly recommended.

This is the story of Kya Clark, who is a poor white girl growing up in the marshlands near a little town called Barkley Cove, North Carolina. The story is set over 20 years from the 1950s to 1970s. Kya’s mother flees after years of abuse, leaving Kya, at the age of 7, to fend for herself. Soon after her brother leaves, then her father. But Kya remains and makes it work. She’s a scavenger, a fighter, a poet, and a keen observer of the marsh and the wildlife around her.

Kya learns to read, with the help of a friend of her brother. She figures out how to earn a living, with the help of Jumpin’, who runs the marine gas station. And she manages just fine, thank you very much, until she’s accused of murdering the town’s prized quarterback Chase Andrews.

Favourite moment: There are many beautiful descriptions of the marsh, its shells and grasses, the birds and animals. Kya’s love of nature is what connects her to Tate, who comes to teach her to read. There is a game of cat and mouse, which captures that excitement of a first crush.

In the center of the clearing was a rotted-down stump, so carpeted in moss it looked like an old man hiding under a cape. Kya approached it, then stopped. Lodged in the stump and sticking straight up was a thin black feather about five or six inches long. To most it would have looked ordinary, maybe a crow’s wing feather. But she knew it was extraordinary for it was the ‘eyebrow’ of a great blue heron, the feather that bows gracefully above the eye, extending back beyond her elegant head. One of the most exquisite fragments of the coastal marsh, right here. She had never found one but knew instantly what it was, having squatted eye to eye with herons all her life.

Chapter 13, feathers

The next day Kya rushes back to the stump to see if another feather is left. She starts leaving small gifts too. It’s electric. And then Tate appears and Kya is rather disappointed that the game is over. It’s young love and so touch-and-go. She’s like a fawn ready to sprint but Tate is kind and has good intentions. Thankfully, because the town kids are real arses.

There is great rhythm to the writing. I sped through this book. If you’re not one to read the award-winnings, it’s ok to give this one a try. It’s worthy of the praise.

Description: A modern-day Waiting for Godot, with more overt drug references. This clever novel reads like a play, which is why it reminds me of Godot. Here we have two Irish ex-crooks who are waiting for a young woman at the port of Algericas. She doesn’t know they are waiting. It’s darkly comic, full of banter and great Irishisms.

Charlie Redmond and Maurice Hearne are long-time friends, and long-time drug runners. They’ve lucked out, lost out, and now have aged out. They are rundown, just like the terminal at Algericas, where they wait for 23-year-old Dilly who fled Ireland (and her father). They think she’ll be on the boat to or from Tangier. They are lying in wait.

The novel is a mix of stream of consciousness narrative and witty back and forth between the two men, with some prose sections that help fill in the details about how the two men met, their drug running days, romances and fights, and daughter Dilly. The characters are full of mirth, madness, and merriment in a way that reminds me so much of living in Ireland.

Personally speaking, Maurice? My arse isn’t right since the octopus we ate in Malaga.

Is it saying hello to you, Charlie?

It is, yeah. And of course the octopus wasn’t the worst of Malaga.

One of my favourite scenes is when the men accost a young traveller who they assume knows Dilly. They are playful at first, then threatening. The tension is real, especially if you’ve ever been on the receiving end of this type of encounter. It’s not the best scene in the book but it creates discomfort that is riff throughout the novel.

Geography lesson: Tangier is a Moroccan port on the Strait of Gibraltar. Algericas is in Spain and just across the bay from Gibraltar. Imagine that little tip where Europe bends down to the northern tip of Africa.

Night Boat to Tangier is brilliant. It can be hard to like but there is master and genius here. I think the audiobook of this would provide a rich experience with the Irish accent but might be harder to understand.