A review by bgg616
The Closet of Savage Mementos by Nuala Ní Chonchúir

5.0

Lillis flees Dublin for the Scottish Highlands after the death of her childhood friend and would-be boyfriend Donal. In the Highlands, she works in a bistro in a small seaside town, and gets involved with a man. Lillis is haunted by memories of Donal, and her own childhood with an alcoholic mother. In the second part of the book, we find Lillis 20 years older, and still unsettled. This is a story of motherhood - good and bad mothers, and women's lives. Lillis never seems to be able to live her life as she wanders through life burdened by the past. I believe this is a book for women, more than it is a book for anyone, and specifically women who want to explore motherhood and what it means. The prose is often simple, and beautiful. It reminds us that Ireland and Scotland are very different places and makes them seem as far apart as perhaps Canada and Mexico. I plan to read more of Ni Chonchúir as I love her prose and her sensibility.