Frank Mackey, an undercover cop in Dublin, has a bitter relationship with his ex-wife, and a seriously cute nine-year-old daughter with whom he treasures every moment of his hard-won visitations. Yet when he finds five frantic messages one evening on his home answering machine from his estranged sister, Jackie, he knows he has to abort his weekend with his daughter and return to his childhood home on Faithful Place in a working-class neighborhood outside Dublin. Frank had left Faithful Place 22 years ago, never wanting to return. He hasn’t spoken to his Ma, “your classic Dublin mammy: five foot nothing of curler-haired, barrel-shaped don’t-mess-with this, fueled by an endless supply of disapproval,” his Da, an “unemployed alcoholic waster,” or any of his siblings, except occasionally Jackie, in all that time away.
In 1985, when Frank and his neighbor Rosie Daly were nineteen and unbearably in love, they had plans to elope to London. They saved up their money to buy ferry tickets, and agreed to meet at midnight at the top of Faithful Place. Rosie had the tickets. Frank waited for her, but midnight came and went and Rosie didn’t show up. Hours passed. Frank thought maybe he and Rosie misunderstood where they were to meet, so he went down the road to Number 16 Faithful Place, an abandoned house where neighborhood kids met to party, where he and Rosie first lost their virginity, to see if she was waiting there. At Number 16, in the front room, he found a note in Rosie’s handwriting, saying goodbye, saying she’s sorry. “I’ve thought about it really hard, this is the only way I’ll ever have a decent chance at the kind of life I wanted. I just wish I could do it and not hurt you/upset you/disappoint you… It would be great if you could wish me luck in my new life in England!! But if you can’t I understand. I swear I’ll come back someday.” Frank’s heart was broken but he waited a few more hours anyway, in case she came back, then he lit out to start his own life. He didn’t have a ticket to go to England, but didn’t want to go back home, so he found a squat in Dublin. When the two disappeared on the same night, the neighborhood gossip was that they had gone off together. For years, the families assumed that Frank and Rosie were living a normal, happy life together in England. It wasn’t until Jackie met up with Frank some years later that she learned Frank was still in Ireland and Rosie had not been with him.
On the phone in the present day, Jackie tells Frank that a developer has bought three houses on Faithful Place and started to demolish them to turn them into apartments. Stuffed up the chimney of Number 16, they found an old suitcase, and when it was opened, the Mackey family realized it had belonged to Rosie Daly. Frank understands that Rosie most likely never left Ireland either. He rushes right away back to his childhood home, knowing that he’ll be returning to the family hatreds and jealousies that made him want to leave in the first place.
Emotions between family members and neighbors are raw and vicious. Alcohol fuels the nasty fights and the mean-spirited father’s repugnance permeates the atmosphere. As a reader, I wanted to know what happened to Rosie, so I kept reading, but sometimes the clashes were almost unbearable.
This is Tana French’s best book yet. The atmosphere she’s created and her character development are brutally strong. As with the two other novels I reviewed earlier this week, this book is almost less about the mystery of the missing person and more about the characters surrounding the mystery. It’s sometimes hard to read, yet hard to put down.
I listened to the audiobook version first, and then read the book. The narrator of the audiobook, Tim Gerald Reynolds, a relative newcomer to audiobooks, is excellent. He’s spent a lot of time in Dublin throughout his life. Reviews have said his accent and his delivery of Irish slang is excellent. He portrays the raw emotions perfectly.
Check the WRL catalog for Faithful Place
Check the WRL catalog for Faithful Place audiobook
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