At the urging of a friend, I went in search of novels by
Tana French. I chose FAITHFUL PLACE (2010). I finished it moments ago, which is
good, since for the last three days my sleep and chores have suffered mightily.
It’s a crime drama set in Dublin, starring Frank Mackey, divorced dad,
undercover detective, and middle child in a family that plumbs new depths of
dysfunction. Frank, nee Francis, planned to run away with this girlfriend Rosie
Daly to England at age 19. Rosie never showed up, and Frank found a note there
in her writing saying, in effect, I’m sorry, forgive me, wish me luck, and
goodbye. Before the neighborhood woke to witness his humiliation, he left Faithful
Place (the street) without looking back. Cop college, a career on the force and
another as one of Dublin’s-most-devilish-with-the-ladies, and a nine-year old
daughter later, Frank is yanked back to Faithful Place by the discovery of
Rosie Daly’s suitcase, stashed for all these years up the chimney of the
derelict home where they were to meet.
French writes sensuously, with every bitter tang of lager,
decay, and regret rolling on the tongue, with the perfume of lemony shampoo and
body spray and teenage lust lingering in the nostrils. Her narrative deftly weaves
past and present, and convincingly depicts the interconnected anguish of broken
neighborhoods, broken families, and broken lives. Oppression and torment are
everywhere, but French resists the urge to resort to tidy, simplistic bogeymen
to account for her characters’ pain. Our hero, Frank, is something like
irresistible, though I wanted to throttle him at times. I suspect that’s one of
the secrets of his charm.
Advocates of young adult literature praise it in contrast
with adult fiction for its holding onto hope. FAITHFUL PLACE is not without its
note of hope. One just has to look closer, underneath layers of Dublin-poverty
grime, to find it. Strongly recommended, particularly for readers more
streetwise than I am. Not gonna lie: had to look a lot of Irish curse words up,
or do my best guessing. The Emerald Isle seems to have its Forty Shades of Swear
which leave our unimaginative American cussing sounding pretty bland by
comparison.
FAITHFUL PLACE is available in paperback from Viking Penguin.
