A moving tale

Popular Fiction: Jenny Dempsey lives by the sea in Dublin with her little boy, Charlie, and their dog, Sausage. She is content to have turned her back on a hectic career in journalism and more than happy to be living the quiet life of a freelancer.

One day, concerned about his pale face and black circles under his eyes, she takes her son to the doctor for a check-up. Charlie has leukaemia. Their quiet life is turned upside down.

This book tackles a huge subject which could make for a clunky and cloying read. Thankfully Deegan's clipped, staccato style keeps things moving along as she outlines the heart-wrenching struggle to find a bone marrow donor for Charlie, and Jenny's own struggle to face difficult issues: her strained relationship with her politician mother, her broken engagement with Dave and her relationship with Charlie's oncologist, Dr Simon Grace.

The romantic sub-plots, including the question of who Charlie's father is and which of the candidates Jenny has the strongest feelings for, are diverting, but the book is most successful in dealing with Charlie's harrowing illness.

Deegan has a great eye for detail. Her sparse descriptions - whether she is writing about the mother's wafer-thin mattress beside her son's bed or the hospital kitchen where she makes his snacks - brings the hospital environment to life. The blurb says Deegan's daughter became ill while during the writing of the book and there is authenticity to her description of a mother's pain when faced with caring for a seriously ill child. The ending is neat, perhaps too neat, but Time in A Bottle is still a deeply moving second novel.

• Róisín Ingle is an Irish Times journalist