The dysfunctional family is a territory long occupied in Irish fiction and Martin Malone, a military policeman with some success as a short story writer, takes us on a familiar journey with a sexually abusive father, bedraggled mother, suicidal son, pregnant daughter, and randy priest, among an assorted cast living in the Curragh area. Malone lays bare a seemingly ordinary family life against a background of sheep farming and horses by letting each character tell his or her own story.
With some humorous splashes echoing Frank McCourt and Roddy Doyle, the novel, after a vigorous start; loses pace. There are few surprises, the one in relation to Gina's pregnancy is well telegraphed in advance and the repeated references to dirt, smells and rats might not have been so strident in a work of better structure and depth.
Malone, however, has a light touch, his characterisations of the mother, daughters and one of the sons shows promise, and there is compassion and a feel for the under layer of Irish rural life. But, yet again, the difficulties of transferring from the short story to the novel are exposed.