The Wren, The Wren
by Anne Enright
(Cape, £18.99)
MAYBE IT’S JUST BECAUSE I’m a bloke—although I like to think it isn’t— but one type of novel I’ve begun to find a bit tiresome is the type whose essential message is that women are great. Not (of course!) that this is a message I disagree with. The trouble is that such novels generally feel not just predictable but strangely needy, as if they’re almost begging for reassurance.
It was, then, with some dismay that I read on the jacket that the new novel by Anne Enright—one of Ireland’s best living authors—is “a testament to the glorious resilience of women”. Surely she too hadn’t gone for something so banal? Well, as luck would have it, I needn’t have worried, because the book itself is far richer and more interesting than that.
This story is from the September 2023 edition of Reader's Digest UK.
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This story is from the September 2023 edition of Reader's Digest UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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