A review by ps_stillreading
Instructions for a Heatwave by Maggie O'Farrell

emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

 

“Why is it that twenty-four hours in the company of your family is capable of reducing you to a teenager? Is this retrogression cumulative? Will she continue to lose a decade a day?” 

Families are complicated. And no matter how well you think you know your children or your parents, there will always be some things that are kept hidden, tucked safely away from view. Secrets, little shames, thoughts, feelings, mistakes, grievances, truths too painful to talk about. These family secrets, long buried and avoided, slowly emerge in the light of day. How do these revelations change things?

Instructions for a Heatwave is set in the great heatwave of 1976. One scorching summer day, recent retiree Robert Riordan bids his wife Gretta goodbye before he steps out to buy a newspaper. But he doesn’t come back. Gretta calls her children and they return home to help find their father. But it’s been years since they’ve all been together under one roof. It feels familiar, yet strangely new. 

Michael Francis, the eldest child and only son, is having marital problems. Monica, the eldest daughter, who took it upon herself since childhood to keep the family running smoothly, is once again feeling this burden of responsibility. Aoife, the youngest, the black sheep, the one who left London and ran away to New York, comes home after three years still unsure of how she can fit in with her terrible secret and whether she and her sister can repair their relationship. And their mother Gretta, who they know to be so full of life now seems so lost without her husband. 

With everyone back home, past hurts demand to be dealt with. And everyone must confront it if they are to move forward.

✨

I read this in the middle of summer, and the inescapable heat added to the tension I felt while reading this book. We follow Gretta and her three adult children in turn, and we are made privy to their lives and hearts. So much of this book tackles identity. How the characters see themselves, what experiences have made them who they are, how they see each other.  How they want the world to see them. What it means to be Irish in London in the 70s. How their identities shape their relationships. And when certain truths come to light, these identities have to shift and take on a new shape. 

As an only child, it was fascinating to read about sibling dynamics. They’re all so different, despite being shaped by the same experiences and upbringing. They get on each other’s nerves, they fight, they can be mean to each other, and yet the love that they have is so strong. Come what may, they will always have each other’s back.

The writing was also so so good. This is my first Maggie O’Farrell, and if her other characters feel as real as the ones in this book, then I need to read more of her work. The scenes are rich with vivid details that I can picture them as I read. We follow each character, their thoughts easily shifting from the present, to flashbacks, and looping back around to the current moment. Everything just flows so nicely. O’Farrell has this amazing ability to draw you in, and I will willingly go down the path she wants to take me.

You should read this book if you love family drama, multiple POVs, and books that focus on characters and their relationships.