The Amendments by Niamh Mulvey is a powerful generational novel that highlights the difficult position that women have endured in Ireland before the legislative changes were made over the last four decades.

Nell and Adrienne are going through a difficult patch in their relationship and must somehow work out their issues. Nell’s mother Dolores was actively involved in the women's rights movement as a young woman. Nell was involved in a church group when she was younger.

The Amendments cleverly weaves together a number of narrative threads to make a rich and enduring novel.

I was so desperate to love this book. To absorb it and leave with an understanding I previously didn’t have. But it didn’t do that, and I can’t quite understand why. I didn’t connect with the characters, or learn more about the intricacies of Irish opinions/beliefs on abortion. It just felt very surface level for a book about such deep topics.

I struggled to get into this book, it took me a long while to buy into the characters; but I persevered and suddenly about halfway through things clicked and I read the rest really quickly.

This is the story of Nell and those around her. Nell is about to become a mother, her girlfriend Adrienne is pregnant; the couple are currently participating in therapy sessions, and it is these and the baby that force Nell to look at her past, and her previous experience of pregnancy in an Ireland where abortion was not an option for her.

The story of Nell's mother Dolores is key to the narrative, and she's a principled and proud woman.

Once I got into this, I enjoyed it - it just took a bit too much time so probably not for me.

A deeply moving and thought-provoking multigenerational saga, where a pregnancy unearths the secrets that exist between a small cast of women. This story isn’t just about the opposite sides of the debate on female reproductive rights, but also the evolution of Ireland as a country.

I loved NIamh Mulvey's short story collection and couldn't wait to get my hands on her debut novel. It absolutely lived up to my expectations. The writing is stunning, the characters are very well drawn, and the story is full of sharp observations and thoughtful considerations.

I really enjoy a multigenerational saga, which is presented here in sections that move back and forward in time. This may confuse some readers, but I was so gripped to the events of the novel that it didn't put me off at all.

It's a literary page-turner that presents a thought-provoking look at Ireland's relationship with the Catholic Church, and people's complicated feelings on it. It's an excellent book, and would be perfect for book clubs!

With thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for an advance review copy.

This novel covers some key moments in Ireland's history through the story of three generations of women. It opens in the present day with Nell, living in London and in a relationship with Adrienne, in couples therapy to help her come to terms with her past before she can properly face becoming a parent. Nell hasn't been back to Ireland in a long time and is clearly running from something in her past which has also led her to withdraw from her mother Dolores. And Dolores in her own right was left with unfinished business with her own mother Brigid when Brigid died suddenly.

Through their stories the author explores the debate about abortion rights in Ireland, with the political activity around the passing, repeal and reinstatement of the Eighth Amendment over the course of 40 years from the 1980s to the present, and the impact, sometimes devastating, of the laws on individual lives. It also takes in changing attitudes in Ireland, to religion and gay relationships and the place of women in society. It is very much a novel about how the laws and rules made by the men in politics and the church impact on women's lives.

I will admit that, given all the promise in the book's premise, I found it strangely unengaging. For some reason I had a hard time remembering which of the women was which, and that meant I didn't really get very involved in any of their stories. I didn't get a strong sense of the individual personalities - it's one of those books that was just about worth reading to the end, but which I will forget before very long.

The story is told in the past and the present, the story of several women’s lives. Nell and her partner Adrienne are expecting their first child together, whilst Adrienne is full of joy and excitement, Nell is apprehensive, she is harbouring a huge secret about her past, she carries guilt and so they find themselves seeking the help of a therapist. We meet Dolores who is Nell’s mother, we learn some of her story and we also have a glimpse of Nell’s grandmother Brigid. The three generations are bound together by Irish history, the role of the church, abortion amendments and cultural changes.
Nell knows that in order to move forward and to be able to welcome their baby she is going to have to confront her past, pregnant as a teenager, loosing the baby, the baby’s father, a lot of hurt and pain bottled up inside of her.
This is not a light read, it touches on controversial topics, it is a compelling read and well written. As the stories of these strong woman unfolded I was engrossed and rooting for Nell to overcome her past traumas
Many thanks to Net Galley and Pan MacMillan for an ARC of this book in exchange for a review.
Well done to this author on her debut novel and apologies for the late review.

Niamh Mulvey has written an authentic account of women in Ireland from the 1980s onwards. Her attention to detail is second to none and she captures the mood and attitudes extremely accurately and expands to how the Irish were perceived in England. Great characters and undoubtedly a novel that will be recommended for those curios about how Ireland has changed (for the better) over the past 50 or so years.

I appreciate books that tackle hard issues but not at the expense of story and I'm afraid that this is where this novel fell down for me. I kept wondering if the plot would develop but just kept getting bored with the shoehorned diatribes about women's rights, the Irish small town life and pro-life Vs abortion. All noble debates, but this novel just lacked enough story and provided too much of a platform for fragmented discussion. The start of this was really muddled with the shift in character perspective happening initially after quite a short time and then a long stretch with no return to Nell. I kept persevering but in the end DNFd at 23%.
This honest review is given with thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this book.

The Amendments by Niamh Mulvey.

If anyone would like a deeper understanding of the changing fabric of Irish society in the last forty or years and the iron grip the church held on our country finally began to fail, I would direct them to Mulvey's debut.

This is an excellent , well researched , powerful and poignant novel. I read Mulvey's short collection last year where I think this novel may have found its beginning and really enjoyed her writing style. The writing absolutely soars in parts of this book, there are several sentences I reread over and over and the author has a gorgeous turn of phrase.

The Amendments tells the stories of three women weaving back and forth through time over the last forty years as they encounter, deal with and live through a huge amount of trauma, change, secrecy, shame, loss and hope. Through these woman's lives we see how badly Ireland failed its women and how safer we are now that the power the church wielded has diminished. Mulvey writes these women beautifully especially the main character Nell and her mother Delores. I really liked how she wrote their relationship and the steadfastness of Delores as a mother. There are a huge range of issues woven throughout this book ( if anyone would like a content warning, please dm) yet its not a harrowing read, difficult in parts but the novel is imbued with love and warmth and hope too.

A really strong debut, I am looking forward to reading more from Niamh Mulvey. It reiterated my belief and gratitude that my daughters are growing up now, Ireland is much safer place for them .

4 - 4.5 stars.

Niamh Mulvey's debut novel, the follow-up to her short story collection Hearts and Bones, was published this week and I was captivated by it. I've read a few mixed reviews, with those who didn't love it mainly feeling there are too many characters and it didn't flow well for them. Personally, I loved this book and found it captured Ireland's complicated relationship with Catholicism better than I've seen it written anywhere else, bar perhaps Fintan O'Toole's We Don't Know Ourselves.

The Amendments is a multi-generational literary pageturner, based around Nell and her mother Dolores, and Martina, a woman who Nell came to know as a teenager through her involvement in a shady Catholic organisation referred to as La Obra de los Hogarenos (the Work of the Homemakers), a movement that appeared to me to be inspired by or loosely based on Opus Dei (a sect made up primarily of lay people within the Catholic Church having its origins in Spain but having a significant presence in Ireland). Nell becomes involved in La Obra during her vulnerable teenage years, leaving an imprint on her life forever.

When the book opens, Nell is on the cusp of having a baby with her partner Adrienne, but she has an unspeakable secret that she has carried within her for years. As we delve into Nell's past, we hear her the story of her mother Dolores' life, both their lives inextricably tied up with Ireland's conservative Catholic past (The Amendments is a reference to the 8th Amendment of 1983, which enshrined the right to life of the unborn in Ireland's constitution, and the repeal of the 8th Amendment in 2018 when Ireland's finally paved the way for the introduction of abortion rights for women).

The story moves around in time and place, from the 1980s to the present day, and it paints a picture of an Ireland that failed women so badly for so long. What Mulvey really nails is Ireland's blatant hypocrisy when it comes to religion. She captures the truism that still applies today: everyone knows it's a ruse, but everyone is going along with it anyway. The following quote really resonated with me:

"She [Nell] was learning that to do well in this life meant you had to become proficient in managing what things you really believed in and what things you only pretended to believe in. And she also knew that you had to pretend to believe in such a way that made it clear the belief was only a pretence; to be thought earnest about something you were only supposed to pretend to earnest about - this could lead to social ruin."

Mulvey writes with a dry humour ("for a supposedly religious country, most people could not cope with any kind of religious talk at all" and "it was his tragedy that he had not been born two generations earlier and thus able to demonstrate his love for his country by dying for it") and an ability to convey societal shifts through the subtleties of relationships and lives lived. She writes her characters with empathy and nuance; I found myself welling up with tears several times while reading and my heart hurt for Nell and for Martina.

The Amendments is a novel that will speak to people who grew up in Ireland in the 1980s and 90s, and maybe spent a period of time abroad. I can imagine it being read and discussed by book clubs around the country - there is much to dissect. Ireland has changed so much, and yet it still feels that we have some way to go. A brilliant and compelling read that I inhaled in a day. 5/5 stars

*Many thanks to Pan MacMillan for the arc via Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review. The Amendments is available now.

What a beautiful book
The Amendments of the title refer to times when Irish law was changed to alter the rights of women to access reproductive care and abortion . The story is loosely woven around these time periods when these rights were at risk in Ireland. The story looks at a family of women over three time periods.. Initially because there were.
a lot of characters I found myself a bit confused at times . Once I realise that they were all related it was easier to follow the novel when it switched between time periods.
I loved the fact we know from the start one of the characters is gay and watch as she comes to terms with this first trying heterosexual sex with its risks before finally coming out to her family.
I had never heard of the religious group.“La obra de las hagarenos “ before reading this novel. This is a Catholic women’s group originally started in Spain before spreading to other Catholic countries like Ireland the group I space in someway similar to the U.K.’s boys brigade but much strictly religiously with very uptight misogynistic views of sexuality
The abortion and women’s rights issues are dealt with sensitively and particularly well in this book
The potions of the novel that I enjoyed the most where focusing on her time at university as a medical student
This novel is very firmly set in Ireland There were a few things that were specific to Irish life that I could’ve done with a footnote for and had to google such as GAA an Irish athletics Association
The author has a flowing lyrical writing style, which was a pleasure to read. she is very good at describing personal characteristics and the development of her characters through the novel felt real and believable. These were all real people that you could recognise amongst your own friendship group.
I read a copy of the novel on NetGalley UK, the book is published in the UK on the 18th of April 2024 by Pan McMillan/Picador
This will appear on Amazon UK, NetGalley UK, Goodreads and my book blog bionicSarahSbookswordpress.com

This was a very moving book. It charts the story of Nell and the previous generations of her family and the community in her small town in Ireland coping with the eighth amendment which effectively banned abortion in Ireland and has only recently been repealed.
It's a very deep book full of unique characters beautifully laid out by the author. Nell as the main protagonist is flawed but likeable in equal measure and I found myself rooting for her even in spite of her questionable choices at times. Highly recommend.
Thanks to Niamh Mulvey, Picador and NetGalley for the ARC

This novel does a really good job of addressing women's lives and issues these characters face in a refreshing manner. Set mostly in Ireland against the backdrop of the pervasive Christian influence on politics and morals. There are many times you think you can see how this is going to affect the main characters, but its rarely what you expect. Not in a big shocking way, in a realistic, life is complicated way.

We follow the lives of Nell, her mum, Dolores and one of her religious mentors, Martina. The time hops about as we the readers try to get to the bottom of why Nell is struggling with the next big step in her life; the birth of her baby with her partner Adrianna.

Nell wasn't easy to love, but love her I did. I think Dolores represents strong women im Ireland and beyond who saw themselves doing more as a young woman, but finding happiness nonetheless. And most likely underestimating the power and impact they had and continue to.

I enjoyed reading The Ammendments by Niamh Mulvey and am grateful to get a digital copy for trview to via netgalley and Picador.

BOOK REVIEW: Compelling saga about the hearts and minds of strong women
‘The Amendments’ is beautifully written, though not an easy read
BL PREMIUM
11 APRIL 2024
by MONIQUE VERDUYN

Nell and her partner Adrienne are about to have a baby. For Adrienne, it’s a time to celebrate new beginnings. But the news has sent Nell into a spiral and has them seeing a couple’s therapist. The truth is that Nell can’t become a mother without confronting her past.
She had been a mother before, but she never looked after her child: ‘she didn’t want to use that word then, now or ever.’ Nel believes that Adrienne were to find out how badly she does not want to be a mother, she will leave her.

Niamh Mulvey’s debut novel The Amendments – the title refers to the various amendments around abortion that were voted on in different decades – is a multi-generational family saga that begins in London and then takes us through the early 2000s when Nel was a teenager and Ireland was transformed from one of the poorest, most troubled countries in Western Europe to the hedonistic Celtic Tiger.
From there, the narrative moves further back in time to 1983, when Nell's mother, Dolores, was caught up in the politics of the women's rights movement. The surge of feminist activism in the 1970s and 1980s had a profound impact on the country. The Irish Women's Liberation Movement (IWLM) advocated for equal pay, the removal of the marriage bar that banned married women from working, justice for widows and single mothers, equal educational opportunities, and the right to contraception. The title refers to the various amendments around abortion that were voted on in different decades.

Set against the backdrop of Ireland's cultural and political transformation and the pervasive influence of religion and morality, The Amendments delves deeply into the personal and societal struggles of the time through individual stories tied together by Nell’s dark secret.

We meet her when she’s barely speaking to her mother and cannot even contemplate returning home to Ireland. Before Adrienne, Nel believed she did not belong: ‘she sometimes saw rats by the railway track as she cycled to work in the early mornings, or around the back of various restaurants she worked in, and they didn’t scare her, rather they reminded her of herself, the way she skittered around the edges of things, the edges of the city, the edges of life itself.’

Through her short fiction, Mulvey has been critically acclaimed as a talented, insightful storyteller. In her novel, she continues to explore themes of youth, growing up, love, rebellion, and heartache. It’s a profound illustration of the pain of feeling peripheral, misplaced and empty, and a desperate longing for security. Through powerful but compassionate characterisation. Mulvey brings the experience of Brigid (Nell’s grandmother), Dolores, and Nell to life, in a carefully nuanced portrait of the discombobulating societal and cultural changes over their lifetimes. Shame is a persistent theme throughout. Overcoming their shame is the work the women have to do.

Though not an easy read, The Amendments is a fine and beautifully written novel. The social history covered may at times feel overwhelming, but it’s an utterly compelling and engrossing saga about the hearts and minds of strong, interesting women.

The Amendments by Niamh Mulvey

Nell and her partner Adrienne, living in London, are having a baby and attending therapy sessions. Adrienne realises that Nell has unresolved issues from her adolescence in Ireland and these are eventually revealed. Against the backdrop of the Eighth Amendment and it's repeal in 2018, we follow the story of Nell's mother Dolores and Nell herself.

This book is perfection - exquisite writing, serious issues dealt with sensitively but unflinchingly, true to life characters and settings, and a story that holds your attention from the first page to the last. I think it's a novel of our time - I haven't read a better portrayal of these issues and Ireland - and should be on the school curriculum. And it definitely deserves to win prizes! Very VERY highly recommended.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

A poignant novel predominately following the perspectives of a mother and daughter as they grow up in different times, learning about themselves and womanhood in a rapidly socially changing Ireland. The backdrop is the Irish abortion legislation, The Eighth Amendment of the Constitution Act 1983, with feminism, motherhood, tradition, and religion inextricably weaved into the way these women transition from teenagers to adulthood. In the present day Nell, who is living in London with her pregnant partner, begins to examine her past and as she does we learn more about the women closest to her at certain points in her life and why she has such conflicted emotions around the pregnancy.

This novel was well written, with the complex, well-rounded characters who unfurl as the story progresses. It was also interesting reading about the culture difference in the approach to abortion and the culture impact of a more religious society on the understanding around the issue, coming from a country where there is far less debate on it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

The Amendments by Niamh Mulvey. A family saga following mother and daughter Dolores and Nell and their experiences of growing up a woman in Ireland. Inescapably this includes religion, changing attitudes to sex, family, career, friendship and, as the title suggests, access to abortion. Nuanced and thoughtful, it flits backwards and forwards through time and generations and has a good sense of place. The ending was genuinely moving. For fans of Elizabeth Strout and Ann Patchett but with an Irish slant. I love Ann Enright and for me this was a bit more literal and less poetic(I've rounded it up to 4 stars from the 3 1/2 I would personally give it) but if you like a family saga then I don’t think this could be bettered.

This is a debut novel from an Irish writer who made award shortlists for her story collection “Hearts And Bones”. This is the 9th debut novel I’ve read so far this year and the standard is high, but this is one of the best.
It is a tale of three women, main character Nell, her mother, Dolores and Martina, who is one of the mentors of a religious group Nell falls into in her teens. Nell joins La Obra de los Hogarenos (the Work of the Homemakers), an offshoot of the Catholic Church, a movement against what was seen as increasing secularisation and in favour of home life and fostering an international brotherhood of like-minded souls. Not quite a cult, but a group which does influence Nell with its views around the time that discussions in Ireland on increasing pro-choice rights were being discussed.
Dolores had been involved in a previous consideration of these issues with the Eighth Amendment of 1983 when she had been a member of a women’s group. Time moves backwards and forwards for these women throughout the narrative as more of their lives are gradually revealed to us and each other.
The catalyst for this is counselling sessions for Nell, about to become a parent with her pregnant partner Adrienne and facing this future with fear and a reluctance which needs sorting.
I was really involved with the women and their lives as they move back and forth from Ireland. Time away seems to enable them to find themselves and help clarify feelings, Dolores in London and Nell in Spain but are they able to continue with that growth when they return home? The religious aspect I found fascinating and the theme of choice- for the characters in their own lives and from the restrictions of the legislation brings the novel together very nicely. This is certainly a high-quality read and it’s great to discover yet another first-rate Irish author with huge potential.
The Amendments is published on 18th March by Picador. Many thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for the advance review copy.

The Amendments follows Nell, an Irish teenager, her mother Delores and Martina who Nell meets through joining the Movement. I don't want to give the story away as it builds so brilliantly in the book, but Nell finds herself in position which changes the trajectory of her life and stays with her into adulthood.

Fundamental to the story is how the 8th amendment affected these women individually at different times of life. I found myself imagining what it would have been like to be any one of them and just couldn't even comprehend living through this as a woman. I'm just so glad times have changed!!

This is quite a hard read, but it's absolutely brilliant. Would 100% recommend!

I have read quite a lot of fiction written by Irish women over the past few years and so much of it has been truly outstanding. As a result I was excited to have the opportunity to read and review this debut novel by Niamh Mulvey. The novel's title refers to changes in Irish abortion legislation (the Eighth Amendment of 1983 effectively banned abortion in the Republic of Ireland).

In the main the narrative shifts between Nell’s mum Delores' coming of age in 1980s Dublin on the fringe of Ireland’s emerging feminist movement and that of Nell herself, working as a chef in modern-day London with her partner Adrienne. Nell agrees to try for a baby with Adrienne, but after just two rounds of IVF Adrienne successfully becomes pregnant, which forces Nell to reluctantly confront inner demons from her teenage past.

As a young teen at the turn of the millennium, Nell becomes involved with the cult-like Catholic youth movement The Hermanos, where the narrative introduces us to youth leader Martina. It was this section of the story that didn't quite work for me, although I can see that it was a useful vehicle to introduce key elements such as Nell's first love and a character (Martina) who influences Nell's future pivotal decisions.

A heck of a lot of issues are tackled in this book, perhaps too many. It's also worth noting that some of these may prove triggering for readers (abortion, infant loss, rape, suicide, depression, alcoholism). I found the flitting narrative confusing at times and the novel lost me a bit in the middle.

I did feel a real strength of this book was the way Mulvey describes the inner psychology of her characters. Particularly the melancholic feeling of loneliness and disconnect experienced by Nell as a result of her guilt and residual trauma. It made for painfully insightful reading. I felt the story reached a satisfactory conclusion and the exposition of the secret Nell harbours through most of the book is well handled.

Would I read more by this author? Yes I would. I'm intrigued to see what Mulvey writes next.

With thanks to both Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for the ARC for this review.