Nesting is a heartbreaking read that ultimately brings healing. Talented short story author Roisín O'Donnell writes with assurance in a first novel that's gorgeous, moving, and thought provoking.
Ciara is trapped in an abusive relationship. Her husband, Ryan, has isolated her, edged her out of the workforce, and cut her off from financial independence. When she becomes pregnant with a third child, she reaches a breaking point and walks out, along with her two young daughters, on a sudden impulse, despite how impossible it seems. But when she tries to fly from Ireland to England to stay with her mother, she discovers she can't: Ryan has put a hold on their daughters' passports, and she doesn't have his written permission to leave the country with them.
Cut off from support, Ciara falls into a vividly rendered and deeply broken system of temporary housing in hotels. She struggles to navigate the byzantine systems that stand between her and a safe home for her and her children. Through it all, O'Donnell beautifully writes Ciara's internal struggles as she tries to escape the tide of self-hatred Ryan has been systematically inducing in her: "Her own internal monologue, erased. Replaced by his voice."
Nesting is profoundly affecting--a story of survival and recovery that exposes the dysfunctional systems that fail to care for those desperately in need. At its heart is a woman trying to reclaim her identity while being swept up by the currents of father's rights and a housing crisis. It's the kind of novel that will break readers' hearts but ultimately offers them hope and healing. --Carol Caley, writer