A Famished Heart

I would like to thank Netgalley and Serpent’s Tail/Profile Books for an advance copy of A Famished Heart, a stand alone set in Dublin in 1982.

When Father Timoney discovers the dead bodies of Berenice and Rosaleen Macnamara in their home DI Vincent Swan is asked to investigate. He’s not quite sure what to make of it as the sisters have obviously starved to death but did they do it willingly or did they have help?

Although it is quite different to my usual reading matter I enjoyed A Famished Heart as it held my attention from start to finish. There is a crime, but it’s not really the author’s main preoccupation as she is more interested in three specific characters, Vincent Swan, Father Timoney and Frances Macnamara, the third sister who returns from the States on news of the deaths. The sisters’ deaths serve as a background to an examination of these characters’ lives and their reactions to it. It seems to wake them up to different ways of looking at life and to taking some life decisions.

As a result the novel, for crime fiction readers, is necessarily slow with little action, investigation or even discoveries. The first half is definitely inconclusive. There are more events and even a little action in the second half and a few tense moments when Swan has to deal with a threat but the overall pace is slow. Despite this slowness I found the characters fascinating as they deal with their problems. 

I don’t think A Famished Heart will appeal to all readers but I thought it was a good read.

 I received a free review copy from the publisher in exchange for my honest unedited feedback.