Tennis Lessons

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Without giving too much of the plot away, Common Decency follows -through an alternating dual narrative, the mixed, messy -and often let’s face it, rather mundane lives, of two young women, living in a apartment building in Belfast. Lily and Siobhán are two young women living in the same apartment building, but who don’t know each other really at all. Lily is still reeling from the recent loss of her mother, and Siobhán is a teacher navigating her relationship with a married man. Fundamentally, this is a book about relationships, and how the relationships we enter, whether they’re platonic, familial, or romantic, end up defining us. The lives of a bereaved young woman and her neighbour who is consumed by her affair with a married man entwine in this dark, compelling and compassionate coming-of age novel. I loved Common Decency . . . a surprising, clever, sad and strange book . . . such a propulsive joy to read too.' MEGAN NOLAN

One wonders why we can’t just have the information, particularly as the book is narrated in short titled sections that give the month and age of the character. While initially helpful, these seem to grow more random over the course of the novel, drawing attention to the artifice of the story and away from the world of its narrator. Brilliantly vivid Place and cultural context are approached in an interesting way. We are in Belfast — we walk with Lily across Botanic, up University Street, down Elmwood Avenue, and so on — but the troubled history of the place is consigned to the periphery. An older generation prays the younger “will never have to experience something like that”. Outsiders “fetishise” the idea of coming from somewhere with such “incompatible cultural hegemonies squashed together”. The setting is almost incidental — until it is not, and Siobhán, whose personal life is in turmoil, also finds her eyes getting wet over a “young journalist” who has been murdered on the Falls Road, “caught between freshly radicalised young republicans and the PSNI”. The so-called “pathfinders” were one of the lesser-known elite units of the second world war, but, as Will Iredale reveals in this mesmeric account, their contribution to Britain’s victory was vital. Their dangerous, often deadly task was to fly ahead of allied bombing raids into Germany and drop flares illuminating the key military targets. Iredale skilfully interweaves details of the brave pilots’ lives with a weighty account of British military strategy, which, as this book details, was risky and successful. A beautifully written and psychologically incisive bildungsroman...the arrival of a young writer to watch Observer

A real person, asking for empathy, is always going to stay unknowable, because no matter how hard you try to comprehend their pain, you'll always be limited by the mechanisms of your own experience” The author interweaves questions on human nature, class, religion and identity into this complex story, and I found that interesting and engaging as well. But at the end of the day, the book is about how our relationship with our parents formed who we are today and still impacts our view of ourselves and our relationships with others. Lily seems to have reached peace, but Siobhan is still processing. It’s a hard read. But this author has a really good sense of cynical humour which helps. And you see that in the epilogue as well. I loved Common Decency . . . a surprising, clever, sad and strange book . . . such a propulsive joy to read too., Megan Nolan I liked the structure of this book - rather than the traditional chapters, you read about momments in her life, from childhood until the age of 28. Some are short, and only minutes apart, whilst at other times a year may pass.

This was a book I struggled to write a perfect review about so I do apologise for the ramble that I have put together. It’s very rare that a book leaves me like this but nonetheless it was a very well written novel. With its quirky, outsider narrator and atmosphere of discontent, this first novel has echoes of Tessa Kavanagh’s Things We Have in Common, Lottie Moggach’s Kiss Me First and Michelle Gallen’s recent debut Big Girl, Small Town. Fundamentally intimate . . . beguiling . . . A novel about being normal that is anything but. Irish Independent

In the expert hands of this writer, it becomes increasingly difficult to decide which character is speaking until they almost become synonymous. Lily and Siobhan live in an apartment building in Belfast and both are grappling with their own loneliness, love and loss despite living strikingly different lives. Lily has shut herself out from the world following the death of her mother and Siobhan is consumed with her affair with a married man and his sporadic visits and messages. I twigged at one stage that it was set in the North of Ireland but I never felt the book had a strong sense of place. (The only reason was because of a reference to punishment beatings). It really could have been set anywhere. A beautifully written and psychologically incisive bildungsroman...the arrival of a young writer to watch, Observer

Tennis Lessons is a singular creation - a vivid, funny, emotionally intelligent dissection of an ordinary life. Nicole Flattery The point, it seems, is not to create a linear story with a believable plot (though there is a certain amount of this), but rather to create a beautiful, symmetrical formation. Images, metaphors, ideas and characters speak to each other across time and space. There are recurring lines and motifs (the ee cummings line “Not even the rain has such small hands” is one example), and although Lily and Siobhán are separate people, at times they seem to share an overlapping consciousness. Lily wondering “if living will ever ... reveal some new facet that isn’t so unbearable”, is not dissimilar to Siobhán feeling “so inescapably joyless that living seems an unnecessary expenditure of energy”. This book follows both Lily and Siobhan who live in the same building. Lily perceives Siobhan to be living a wonderfully happy life and takes an interest in her as a distraction from the grief of losing her mother. But Siobhan’s life is not as happy as it seems, she’s caught up in an affair for a few years and is struggling to continue living that way.The book follows the main character from the time she is three years old up until her late twenties, and never flinches away from things we prefer not to talk about, from conversations we were never supposed to hear to dark thoughts we can't unthink, from ingrown toenails to blood clots, from times we were the victim to times when we were the bully. I enjoyed the connection with Rachel. So many friendships are based on a strong shared sense of humour and that really comes across in this book. I really enjoyed the banter between the two, it felt real and affectionate. I especially liked the reference to her being an alien just arrived, as she did seem so out of kilter with the world. Teenage years Since her mother's death, Lily has withdrawn from the world, trapped between grief and anger. She has to break out of this damaging cycle - but how? Absolutely brilliant . . . touchingly captures the awkward, aching longing of a misfit . . . darkly funny Express