Among the Ruins

Ireland in 1970 is teetering on the edge of being a good place for women, but it’s not moving quickly enough for Nicoletta Sarto, who’s on maternity leave from her journalism job at Dublin’s Sentinel. As the book opens, she’s due back at work in a week, but stuck between two forces: her boss wants her back early, and everyone else, from her useless partner, Barney, to her coworkers and family, thinks she should stay home with her new twin girls. Nicoletta does whatever she wants (hooray!), and she’s soon back at work, patching together daycare from various reluctant family members while pursuing a crime story. (Never mind that she’s supposedly working on the newspaper’s “womens’ pages.”) The story of murder and stolen art, interspersed with looks at women’s rights (not many), class differences (too many), and organized crime (ditto), takes an unexpected turn and is followed by a surprising and lovely coda showing Nicoletta post-chaos. A fast-moving and interesting look at the recent past, with a gritty character to cheer on–get this on your TBR. In the meantime, try the first in the series, Where They Lie, which features Nicoletta in the ‘60s.—Henrietta Thornton