Books: Troubles and tribulations

Colm Toibin's 10th novel is set in the familiar territory of his childhood. Photo / AP

Not so long ago, David Lodge and Colm Toibin published novels about Henry James in the same year. Toibin's garnered all the prizes and attention, while Lodge's languished unfairly in its shadow. Lodge's Author, Author! sparkled - intimate with its subject and masterfully told, at least as good as The Master. Then, when Toibin's The Testament Of Mary was short-listed for the 2013 Man Booker Prize, I couldn't help but compare it to our own C.K. Stead's 2006 novel, My Name Was Judas. By comparison Toibin's was slight and mannered.

In other words, I confess I approached Nora Webster with preconceptions, even prejudices, of which I have been cured. This is Toibin's 10th novel, also historical but set much more recently, in 1960s and early 70s Ireland.

The titular character lives in the town of Enniscorthy in County Wexford. Toibin is far more at ease in this familiar territory. The reader is transported to a time when The Troubles are surging - the British Army is killing protesters at peaceful demonstrations in Londonderry, the British Embassy in Dublin is burning down, the Special Branch make hundreds of arrests.

The burning of the embassy is as close as The Troubles come to Nora. They are a kind of worrying backdrop to her own tribulations. As the novel opens she is recently widowed, left with two young sons and anxious about how she will survive - there are also two older daughters, one away working, the other at university nearby in Dublin, still partially dependent on their mother.

Younger son Donal has a worsening stammer; he's a sensitive boy grieving quietly and deeply for his father. Locals are too enthusiastic in offering her their condolences, family and neighbours intrude when they're not wanted - her sisters Una and Catherine, the next-doors Tom and Margaret, various aunts, friends and townspeople.

The novel is almost plotless in the usual sense. Toibin avoids the temptation of one grand scene. Much like Richard Linklater's film, Boyhood, the novel truly is an epic slice of life, a linear style that can run the risk of losing all narrative tension.

Toibin avoids the pitfall. His love and respect for all his characters, even the irritating ones, make compelling reading. His understanding of Ireland as it would have been during his own childhood is rock solid and informed. The large cast is deftly handled, while at the same time Nora deepens and develops: she finds a job, raises the boys, fights her battles, goes less often to Mass.

Music offers solace - some of the most memorable parts of the novel are Nora's musing on classical music popular at the time. She has a beautiful voice, which, as she liberates and trains it, is an overarching metaphor for her own self-discovery.

Always, Nora Webster is central, in a closed third-person perspective that can occasionally feel claustrophobic. Toibin's skill as a writer transcends the limitations - readers are allowed to draw their own conclusions about her, much as her close community does.

Ultimately, we see her for all her flaws and fine qualities and grow to love her as much as Toibin does.

Stephanie Johnson is an Auckland writer.