Written initially for Sassi Sam and reproduced here.
On a small road outside Dublin, a tired truck driver swerves to miss a deer, causing his truck to ram into one car and another to roll into a ditch. One driver dies and the other escapes miraculously with little more than scratches. This tragic accident sets in motion a chain of events that brings families together and uproots long-kept and damaging secrets.
On a small road outside Dublin, a tired truck driver swerves to miss a deer, causing his truck to ram into one car and another to roll into a ditch. One driver dies and the other escapes miraculously with little more than scratches. This tragic accident sets in motion a chain of events that brings families together and uproots long-kept and damaging secrets.
Lifesaving
for Beginners is Ciara Geraghty’s fourth
novel. It is told through two
perspectives; that of nearly-forty year old, successful author Kat Kerrigan and
Milo, a young boy who loves his lifesaving classes, his mother and banoffi. As
engaging as the story is, the real enjoyment for the reader comes from the
select cast of realism of Geraghty has gift for creating characters with comparatively
few words but who come alive and whom you can believe and invest in as a
reader.
Principal protagonist, Kat Kerrigan, is not
an instantly loveable character. She has spent her life concealing truths from the
people who surround her, including herself. Only four people know that she is
the anonymous author of internationally best-selling movie-making detective
stories, and two of those people are her publishers. Kat is terrible at
personal relationships, being secretive and selfish in the extreme. The only
person in her life whom she loves unconditionally is her brother Ed, who has
Downs Syndrome. Along with Milo, the second narrator, Ed is a delightful
character who is portrayed with such sensitivity that you never feel sorry for
him or his family but rather appreciate him as the person who brings out the
best in Kat.
Back when she was 15, something happened to
Kat that she has never dealt with and which she has kept secret even from her
family. By covering over and burying the past, she has changed profoundly into
the prickly, ultra-private person she is now. The car accident that doesn’t
kill her still acts like a bomb thrown into her life, bringing up the events of
20 years ago and causing Kat to embark on an indulgence of self-destructive
behaviour.
Milo, in contrast, is loveable and caring. His
mother died in the car crash and he is left in the care of his sister Faith. As
much as she tries to keep everything together for him, he feels keenly the loss
of his normal, ordered life and of course, his loving mother. His young voice
has been perfectly captured by Geraghty, making it so easy to fall for this
small boy who is dealing with personal tragedy and family fallout with great
maturity.
Lifesaving
for Beginners deals with death, privacy, secrets
and trust in the closest relationships people can form – with family, partners
and life-long friends. Geraghty has written an engaging and personal story told
from the perspectives of two very different people; the instantly likeable Milo
and the contentious Kat, whom you warm up to as she allows herself to grow and
become accepting.
Though Lifesaving
for Beginners may be what I call ‘aeroplane reading’; the light yet
absorbing books you pick up in airport news agencies for plane journeys; it is
so much more emotional and rich than what is called for by the genre. Geraghty
is a delightful writer who sweeps you up in her characters and tells stories
with hope and enjoyment and the very necessary hint of darkness. If you were to
pick this book up for a flight to Europe, you wouldn’t put it down for the full
24 hours.
I had the good fortune to meet and interview Ciara Geraghty for Sassi Sam. Read the full interview.
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