Once On A Road
Mary-Ellen Mullane
Once On A Road
Mary-Ellen Mullane
Winner of the Society of Women Writers Biennial Book Award 2011
Winner of the Society of Women Writers Biennial Book Award 2011 How far would you go to protect your grandchildren from their mother?
Naomi Adams is a midwife, a mother and a grandmother. Her two young grandsons, Chris and Max, have been the centre of her world since both her sons were killed in a car accident. Her daughter-in-law, Zoe, was said to have been driving on that devastating afternoon. Zoe is badly injured in the crash and once she recovers, still ruined, she walks away from her boys and from Naomi for eight years. But now she wants her sons back. And Naomi can’t let them go.
Exploring the age-old themes of duty and love, exile and return, this is the story of Naomi and Zo . It is also the story of Chris and Max, who adore their grandmother but long for their mother, whether or not she knows what’s best for them. The choice they make has grave repercussions for the whole family, which will reverberate for years to come.
Beautifully told in spare, vivid prose Once on a Road is a superb first novel about the complexity of families and how, eventually, even the most tangled and unhappy relationships can be redeemed by forgiveness and love.
Review
Dimitri Gonis, freelance reviewer
For Zoe Zalum, a has-been artist and reformed drug addict, it’s been an eight-year sabbatical from motherhood. But she returns on the day of her father-in-law’s funeral and she wants her boys. Chris and Max, however, have only known two parents: grandparents Noel and Naomi. They’re the ones who’ve loved and nurtured them over the years. Now widowed and alone, Naomi is confronted with the reality of losing everything.
There’s already a huge rift between the two women. Naomi resents Zoe for the death of her own sons, Ben and Jesse, in a car accident. She’s not prepared to relinquish the only living link to her children. A period of legal proceedings will see Naomi marginalised and the boys awarded to their mother. The three will move into the colourless surroundings of a housing commission flat on the wrong side of town – a change which will expose the boys to the crime and vulnerability that comes with destitution. Love, however, conquers all. Old wounds are healed and bonds are renewed.
A very pertinent novel about tolerance and forgiveness. Moving and beautifully written.
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