Novel set in fictional ARDNAKELTY (West Coast IRELAND)

8th February 2024

The Hunter by Tana French, novel set in fictional Ardnakelty, West Coast Ireland.

If you love a novel about small community dynamics in rural Ireland then this is for you. It also reminded me a little of the film The Banshees of Inisherin.

This is the story of Trey, a wild 15 year old living with her mother and siblings. Her father, Johnny, is a charmer and fly-by-night – “Sorta what you’d call a waster, though. Lotta talk, lotta smiles, no job” – who has been absent for much of her life but who now returns home with a get-rich-quick plan, and a Paddy Englishman – Rushborough – in tow. He intends to dupe the locals and take their money with the promise of gold. The associate seems to be the driving force..

In the absence of her father, Trey has been taken under Cal’s wing, a recently retired Chicago PD officer, who has relocated to this very village. He is kind and thoughtful and they restore furniture together. He is aware of her background – violence from her father, her mother preoccupied with the smaller children – and how she can court trouble. He also knows that she suffers at the hands of the locals who aren’t particularly good to her.

Now her biological farther has returned, her feelings coalesce. She bides her time, as she is steered by events and blown by the wind, determined to somehow address the years and misdeeds that have punctuated her life.

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It is an unusually hot period for the townsfolk going about their business and the locals are agog about Johnny’s return. The shop and pub are abuzz with gossip of all kinds, petty feuds and general craic, and the author wonderfully evokes small town life. She captures the feel through creative detail and observation and she beatifully renders both the characters and the dogs (especially Banjo). Sometimes perhaps the story steers in circles, drilling deeper, which can occasionally bog the narrative down.

You will gather from the book cover that there is a fire somewhere along the line…

Tina for the TripFiction Team

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