Jeanie Masterson can hear the dead, and they can hear her. Inevitably, this results in her commitment to the family mortuary business in Kilcross, Ireland.
As in her well-received debut novel, When All Is Said, Anne Griffin writes sensitively in Listening Still of life's most dreaded event, death, and removes the fear. "The dead and their needs were ours to bear," Jeanie learned as a toddler, accepting that she'd inherited the Masterson gift as "the conduit" between the recently deceased and their loved ones. Relaying words from the beyond, she sometimes edits messages to spare the feelings of the living, which can torment her, but her choice infuses the novel with a sense of kindness. Yet Jeanie, at 32, grapples with a temptation to leave her career, realizing that her extraordinary talent doesn't include communicating honestly with her beloved husband, Niall--or even with herself.
In first-person narration enriched with Irish vernacular and dialogue, including voices from the mortuary, Jeanie recalls her life. Engaging characters include her group of lifelong school friends, her close-knit family, dear Niall and her dashing teenage sweetheart, Fionn, who once tempted her to leave Kilcross, a decision she still questions. Her parents' surprise retirement and Niall's hope for children force her to examine her choices. She's exhausted from "the intensity of... ensuring I was doing the best job possible" and contemplating motherhood: if she hands down her gift, "an innocent child would carry the burden of its pressures and expectations." Jeanie boldly considers new options, while characteristically "always wanting to do right by everyone." This, ultimately, includes herself. --Cheryl McKeon, Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza, Albany, N.Y.