Mouthing is a series of confessional monologues, deftly sewn together, from voices hailing from one village in rural Ireland, which is ‘just about as good and as bad as you’ll get anywhere’. Divided into sections, illuminating different generations and points in time, each section explores a different story or situation from several different perspectives, inching forward from the 1960s up to more recent times. Reinforcing the small-town essence of the book, where small communities become interlinked and enmeshed in each other’s lives, characters from one section will reappear at the edges of the story from another section. There’s Mona Muldowney, who breaks away from a childhood home haunted by troubles to move in with the parish priest; but he has a secret of his own. Monica Doyle, sent overseas to erase her own troubles, where she enters another unsettled household. Young Joanne Henderson, whose Mammy spends all day between lying in bed and eating sweets in front of the TV, and whose kindly neighbour takes her in while her Daddy is away more and more. These are just some of the characters whose stories unfold within the pages of this book.

In all sections, trauma of some sort courses through the stories, through the families, leaving its mark as time goes on; those who suffered trauma often end up subjecting those around them, and who come after them, to further trauma, unable to break the cycle; they’re people who are ‘hurting from the past and can’t break away from it’. And they talk; talk to the reader, talk about each other; giving their two cents on what is happening, what may be happening. It’s left to us to figure out whose perspective is closest to the truth. The book explores the multifaceted and multilayered realities within any given situation. This is a vivid, acutely observed portrait of what goes on behind closed doors, full of flawed and suffering characters; characters we at times want to shake but who we also often feel deeply for. I loved this little book. Sharply written, with biting humour, sharp tongues, resentment, secrets, trauma, loss, envy, regret and resilience, it explores the stories we live and the stories we tell. And amongst all the difficulty we find glimmers of love, glimmers of hope, glimmers of community spirit, and the possibility of turning a corner and moving on. I can’t wait to see what Orla Mackey writes next. 

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Mouthing is published by Hamish Hamilton.

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Orla Mackey is a writer and teacher based in Kilkenny in Ireland. She studied English Literature at Trinity College, Dublin. Mouthing is her first novel.