#debut-novel

#debut-novel

Asking for a laptop as she lay in a hospital bed during a frightening cancer ordeal, Wicklow woman Elaine Murphy could hardly have imagined that those first taps on the keyboard would lead to her debut work of fiction, See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil, a Garden County mystery born from the darkest chapter of her life.

Jean is, in the words of its author, a novel about "alienation, told from the inside out". Set at a reform school over the sweltering summer of 1976, the heat rises as Jean fights (and fucks) the other boys, conflict and desire coalescing until the novel reaches its conclusion: his decision to walk out of his life for good. Dunnigan explores the ethics of early sexual experiences, British class dynamics and the crushing weight of - particularly masculine - conformity.

In her debut novel, the Portland author follows Annie, clutching a plush caterpillar toy and ignoring a gash in her elbow, as she walks - walks! - in her inadequate Birkenstocks and ridiculous maternity romper through a hellish landscape. She treks all the way from the big Ikea out by the Portland airport to a school in Southeast Portland, where a fellow traveler searches for her daughter in the rubble.

The difference between writing fiction and nonfiction lies in the purpose behind the writing; fiction allows for more narrative freedom, while nonfiction is bound by truth.

Taking tips from a magazine, Girlfriend Weekly, which magically appears every so often bathed in light and accompanied by a cor anglais, Reality leans with alarmingly good cheer into the notion that the perfect girlfriend must be permanently ready to service every last whim.