by Anne Donovan
First published 2001
Mary sits in her classroom, watching her student Kevin struggle with words that seem to slip away from him like water through his fingers. She recognizes something in his frustration that mirrors her own battles with expression. Across Glasgow, other voices emerge from the margins. A mother tries to bridge the gap between her world and her daughter's ambitions. An elderly woman finds herself suddenly unable to communicate after a stroke. A teenager discovers that the language of her heritage doesn't match the language of her future. Each narrator grapples with the weight of unspoken thoughts and the inadequacy of available words. Donovan shifts between their perspectives, revealing how language both connects and isolates. The characters search for ways to make themselves understood in a world that often refuses to listen. Their stories interweave to form a larger meditation on communication and silence.
Genres: literary-fiction, contemporary, communication, family-drama
Vibes: intimate, lyrical, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Glasgow
165 pages · Paperback · Canongate