Bookseller Reviews
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An understated, well-observed, beautifully-written novel from the author of ACTS OF DESPERATION
When a small child (Mia) is found dead on a housing estate in England, everyone assumes it must be 10-year-old Lucy, the youngest member of the no-good Iri... READ MORE
Dark, gritty and superbly written!
"There is no secret, Tom, or else there are hundreds of them, and none of them interesting enough for you. The secret is that we're a family, we're just an... READ MORE
Beautiful, skilful writing
I read this in a day, and I know that I will read it again.
Ordinary Human Failings is dark, disturbing and all consuming. It is a character study of a... READ MORE
Synopsis
It’s 1990 in London and, after the death of a young girl on an estate, the finger of suspicion is pointing at one reclusive Irish family: the Greens.
At their heart sits Carmel: beautiful, other-worldly, and once destined for a future beyond her circumstances until life – and love – got in her way. Now, as the scandal unfolds and the tabloids hunt their monster, she must confront the secrets and silences that have trapped her family for so many generations.
Publisher information
- Publisher: Vintage Publishing
- ISBN: 9781529922639
- Number of pages: 240
- Dimensions: 197 x 127 x 14 mm
- Weight: 168g
- Languages: English
Customer Reviews
View allNot an ordinary novel..
‘Acts of Desperation’ was one of my favourite debut novels. With this second novel Nolan shows us just what a diverse and accomplished writer she is.
‘Or... READ MORE
Utterly compelling. A must read!
Set in the 1990s, ambitious reporter Tom Hargreaves stumbles across a scoop: a dead child on a London estate. At the centre of the suspicions are one reclu... READ MORE
Instant modern classic, the novel is ALIVE
“Instead she suspected that Eloise was in far worse pain than had ever been known, suffering in the recesses of a privacy so total that it was almost evil.... READ MORE
Compassionate and sensitive
Ordinary Human Failings is an examination of exactly that within one family. Tragedy visits Carmel, Lucy, John and Richard when they are implicated in a ta... READ MORE
Far from ordinary
Ordinary Human Failings by Megan Nolan
It’s 1990. A child on a London estate has been killed.Suspicion is directed at an immigrant Irish family, namely ... READ MORE
Admirably different from the author’s debut
I first knew Megan Nolan for her engaging and forthrightly honest New Statesman columns about life and relationships and so was drawn to her debut novel “A... READ MORE
An Irish family seek a new life in England only to become involved in the tragic death of a young child
This book is about an ordinary family with ordinary unhappiness like all other families. Yet tragedy, dysfunctional relationships and life’s hardships move... READ MORE
Excellent read
Ordinary Human Failings by Meghan Nolan is an intense, introspective view of an Irish family that find themselves living in London following a family crisi... READ MORE
Loved it!
Well as it made the women's prize for fiction longlist it found it's way into my towering to be read piles and I am pleased to report that I loved it.
I h... READ MORE
Not the start I would have wished for my reading challenge this year!
I can sum this book up in a single word: inane.
How it ever came to be published is and will remain a mystery to me. To make matters worse, I paid hard-e... READ MORE
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