Shuggie Bain
Douglas Stuart
I read Shuggie in three hours during a sleepless night (in retrospect, it probably exacerbated my insomnia rather than curing it.) This novel is relentless. The setting and situation—a crowded tenement apartment in 1980s Glasgow—is bleak when Shuggie begins, and things get bleaker. And bleaker. And bleaker. If you can stand the emotional flagellation, Shuggie will reward you. The characterization
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★ 5Ordinary Human Failings
Megan Nolan
A tabloid reporter circles an Irish family in London after a child dies, and Nolan slowly peels back what really happened. Bleak and beautifully written.
★ 5Foster
Claire Keegan
A small Irish girl is sent to stay with relatives for a summer and finds unexpected tenderness. Perfect, and I mean perfect.
★ 5Grief Is for People
Sloane Crosley
Sloane Crosley on losing her closest friend to suicide, braided with a burglary. Funny and raw at once.
★ 5Small Things Like These
Claire Keegan
A coal merchant in small-town Ireland has to decide whether to look away. Tiny book, enormous moral weight. Cried, naturally.
★ 5In Memoriam
Alice Winn
A devastating and gorgeous WWI story about two teenage boys who fall in love in the trenches. It will wreck you. If you finished Shuggie Bain, Demon Copperhead, and/or The Heart’s Invisible Furies, and wanted more, this one’s for you.