The Good People by Hannah Kent Review

WARNING: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS BELOW

“The Good People are cunning when they are not merry. They do what pleases them because they serve neither God nor Devil, and no one can assure them of a place in Heaven or Hell. Not good enough to be saved, and not bad enough to be lost”- The Good People, Hannah Kent

County Kerry, Ireland, 1825.

The fires on the hills smouldered orange as the women left, pockets charged with ashes to guard them from the night. Watching them fade into the grey fall of snow, Nance thought she could hear Maggie's voice. A whisper in the dark.

"Some folk are born different, Nance. They are born on the outside of things, with a skin a little thinner, eyes a little keener to what goes unnoticed by most. Their hearts swallow more blood than ordinary hearts; the river runs differently for them."

Nóra Leahy has lost her daughter and her husband in the same year, and is now burdened with the care of her four-year-old grandson, Micheál. The boy cannot walk, or speak, and Nora, mistrustful of the tongues of gossips, has kept the child hidden from those who might see in his deformity evidence of otherworldly interference.

Unable to care for the child alone, Nóra hires a fourteen-year-old servant girl, Mary, who soon hears the whispers in the valley about the blasted creature causing grief to fall upon the widow's house.

Alone, hedged in by rumour, Mary and her mistress seek out the only person in the valley who might be able to help Micheál. For although her neighbours are wary of her, it is said that old Nance Roche has the knowledge. That she consorts with Them, the Good People. And that only she can return those whom they have taken...

First of all, happy St Patrick's Day! Unfortunately, my family isn't celebrating until Sunday, so I have to wait two more days for corned beef, potatoes, and Irish soda bread. 

I wanted to read something Irish in honor of the day, and was tempted just to read Faithful Place, since French's books are often steeped in the culture and history of this small but fascinating island- and Tana French is also actually Irish- but instead I reached for Hannah Kent's The Good People, because I adored Burial Rites (and mildly excited for the movie, although annoyed at Jennifer Lawrence, the most overrated actress in Hollywood since Emma Watson, playing the lead- God, it's like when I found out that Leo diCaprio is playing HH Holmes in the adaption of The Devil in the White City).

I got this book off Book Depository, since it's not out in print in America yet and also I thought the hardcover was more attractive. In this book, just as in her last book, the main attraction is the atmosphere of the novel. I adore atmospheric books, especially atmospheric historical fiction. The setting, the culture, the lives of these people just lept off the page and I could picture the valley perfectly, as well as its inhabitants. 

I did wish there was a pronunciation guide or glossary, as there was in her debut, though maybe there will be one in the American edition. I had to look up how to pronounce names like Áine or Eilís. And then even though I was reading silently, I felt really tired having to remember how to pronounce each name in my head. Does anyone else do that? 

If you want likeable characters, I wouldn't recommend this book to you. While I could find at least some sympathy for all the characters, I only really felt bad for two of them- Mary, the maid and unwitting accomplice, and, of course, the boy, Micheál. I think it's pretty impossible not to feel bad for Micheál, though Mary might strain some people's sympathy. 

One thing I really admire about Kent's work is that she doesn't bog down her historical fiction with unnecessary facts or aspects. It would be tempting for a lot of authors to add bits about Anglo-Irish relations during this time, including bitterness about colonization or resentment towards the Irish families placed in charge of the rest of the villagers, but apart from a few mentions of a landlord that's mostly left out, making the story seem more centered as a result. Kent knows what information to give and what to withhold. The bits about Irish folklore were fascinating, and both the beliefs of the Catholic Church and the beliefs left over from the days of the Gaels were treated with respect. The priest is not outwardly villainized anymore than Nance is. I liked how everyone in this book was morally grey, and, while this book was very successful oscillating between these three women, I do kind of wish that a priest figure or someone from this new school of Catholicism was given a point of view so that the cultural clash between the old ways and the attempts for the Catholic Church to reform was developed more, though we see a bit of that with Mary (who was probably my favorite character, especially since she was the only one who really seemed to care about Micheál).

The whole idea of changelings is a fascinating and ultimately tragic one, especially reading more into it. Children with birth defects or deformities were killed, but we can't wholly condemn the people doing the killing because they honestly believed that the act would bring their children back. When I asked my mother (she's a nurse) what she thought Micheál had, describing to her some of the symptoms, she said it sounded like MS. Other speculations I saw included hypothyroidism/iodine poisoning, as well as cerebral palsy. The point is, this poor boy tugged at my heart, especially the "treatments" he endured as a way to bring back the "real Micheál", a heartbreaking thought itself. 

One of the most effective things Kent did was include the judge and jury. In her decision, we not only have some glimmers of the clash between the cities and the countryside of Ireland, something that still exists to this day, as well as the prosecutor becoming almost a mouthpiece for our thoughts on these women. We think of their crime as being something only the evil or stupid could do, but throughout the novel we get why it was committed. The complexities are shown well in this novel.

One of my biggest wishes in historical fiction is that more books dealing with Irish history existed. If that's what you're looking for, this novel is highly recommended. After this book, Hannah Kent has become an auto-buy author. I await her next work eagerly, sure it will be just as fascinating and brilliantly atmospheric as her last two.

8.5-9 out of 10