Fiction: When she is five years old, Matilda and her brothers and sisters are taken by their father from their home in Australia to live in Waterford and must come to terms with life after being abandoned by their mother. Written without sentimentality, the story spans 11 years and is told through Matilda's endearingly innocent and canny eyes, as she deals with the common cruelties of adults and daily mistreatment at the hands of family and those in authority.
In Matilda we find the simplest of characters, one who is smart enough to know that, whether right or wrong, children must always do as adults decide. At times, it seems that Matilda's childhood is a condition for which growing up is the only cure. She and her brothers and sisters are eventually sent to an orphanage when their grandparents are no longer able to look after them, and years of mistreatment interspersed with occasional light moments follow.
Their father's visits are sporadic but filled with fear and dread as he, by turns, spoils and terrifies them: the summer he forces the children to endure in a hippie camp holds some of the funniest and most horrific scenes of their lives. There are often moments of surreal harshness and escape, and the death of hope that their mother will return leaves the reader with a sense of the despair that stops just short of dominating the children's lives.
In the meantime, Matilda's own simple wish is merely to be hugged and Walsh's touching treatment of a child's needs is refreshingly honest. Having worked for almost 30 years as a plasterer in Ireland, Walsh emigrated to Australia where his impressive debut novel was conceived. His kind and unflinching gaze brings a worthy talent to the Irish fiction stage.
Claire Looby is a clerical administrator with The Irish Times
About Matilda By Bill Walsh Penguin Ireland, 312 pp. €13.99