At what point does a review veer into spoiler alert territory? A moment that cascades a plot and serves to merely diminish the immersive enjoyment of the reader? From the get-go in the case of The Truth about Ruby Cooper, Liz Nugent's latest best-seller, writes Michael McDermott. Exposition comes at lightning speed; page-turning is obligatory.
"If my sister hadn’t been beautiful, none of this would have happened," declares Ruby in the opening line. Buckle up! Having only tapped into what may be considered the populist 'airport novel’ when reading Sheila O’Flanagan’s The Honeymoon Affair last summer, in preparation for her participation in the Liberties Festival, of which I am the director, the ease and thrill of language that propels characters and plot lines at accessible breakneck speed is one that I have come to admire. The art of engagement is the challenge all writers aspire to, but only a few accomplish.
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Listen: Liz Nugent talks to Brendan O'Connor
At the core of The Truth About Ruby Cooper are the consequences of lies and their corrosive effect on perpetrators and victims. Initially, chapters ping-pong between the perspectives of Ruby and her sister Erin, who live in South Boston. Their dad Douglas, is a pastor and founder of the Holy Divine Church of the Fourth Way and an investment broker. Their mother Maureen, is Irish.
In 1999, 16-year-old Ruby is bottom of the class, 18-year-old Erin is top of hers and has a "wicked smart" bookish looker of a boyfriend, called Milo. This leads to jealousy and voyeurism as they attempt to keep their hormones in check within their religious confines. A private encounter between Ruby and Milo in the first chapter leads to accusations that ignite and rend the lives of the Cooper's and Milo asunder. Is Ruby Cooper to be believed as she careers through her own dark twisted fantasy, which leads to her moving to Dublin with her mother.
Nugent is a master at her craft.
"Okay? I’m a twenty-three-year-old alcoholic single pregnant drama student thousands of miles from home with few friends," declares Ruby a hundred or so pages in. As a reader, you feel you are joyriding through carnage and somewhat relieved about your own lot in life. Ruby meets Jack through AA, a ballast to her being, and a white smoke hope to glue the shards of her life back together.
However, the moral dilemmas flagged at the outset continue to gnaw away at Ruby as the fallout continues. Meanwhile, Erin attempts to confront her own understanding of what happened between Ruby and Milo, as her career excels in the publishing world.
Stacked with endorsements from fellow scribes - Louise Kennedy, Graham Norton, Anthony Horowitz - this is no mere sharing of agents or publishing houses; Nugent is a master at her craft. By choosing not to flinch from bigger ethical issues of responsibility for one's actions or caving in to neatly knotted conclusions, The Truth of Ruby Cooper will be smudged with poolside suntan lotion, riffled in libraries, and draw audible gasps of admiration this summer.
The Truth about Ruby Cooper is published by Sandycove
Review: Michael McDermott
