Oddballs – A Novel of Affections by Manchán Magan

Over in New Hampshire Rachel’s world tragically world falls apart when her boyfriend and her are involved in an accident on the last day of their school year just as they had started to plan their future together.  As she delves into a world of lonliness and despair, she finds the only way to relieve the pain is to cut herself and to carve random words into her stomach. Just when she thinks life can’t get any more weirder, a strange eccentric woman turns up at her door claiming to her long lost aunt Charlotte.

Sensing the despair that Rachel is going through, Charlotte longs to save her niece and regain the closeness that they had when she was a child, before Charlotte was banished from the family after nearly killing Rachel, in a drug incident gone terribly wrong. So she takes Rachel away on a stolen yacht on a transatlantic journey hoping to improve both lives with the aid of white magic, hoping that Rachel will once again join the sisterhood, just as she had as a child.

Meanwhile in the small rural fishing village of Reek, live brothers Donal and Colm, who’s mother has disappeared again, leaving them with their bitter sister Mairead and father who never seems to move far away from his armchair and no longer talks after his wife’s disappearance. Donal works on the local boats fishing and occasionally dances for tourists, whilst Colm’s all alone trying to develop some social skills and whose best friend is a fox called Taytos.

So when Rachel and Charlotte arrive in the village, they meet the strange brothers and together the four of them, embark on a new kind of friendship, as they all try to deal with the past and finally move into the future.

This is a remarkable novel from travel author and playwright, Manchán  Magan. A beautifully written story of loners, kooky aunts and self harming nieces, the perfect mix for a wonderful read.

You can buy [amazon_link id=”0863224245″ target=”_blank” ]Oddballs: A Novel of Affections (Brandon Originals) on Amazon [/amazon_link] and other good bookshops.