If Walls Could Talk
If Walls Could Talk is the first book in Jean Grainger’s Dunmara series, set in Ireland and centred on the occupants of Dunmara House. The story follows three women in the present day: Orla, whose husband of more than thirty years has left her for a younger woman; Audrey, an Australian artist married to an Irishman and carrying secrets from her past; and Safira, a Balinese masseuse and the current resident of Dunmara House, who is also burdened by family trauma. Interwoven with their stories is that of Jeannie, a young American woman who comes to Ireland in the 1960s to give birth to an illegitimate child when the house served as a nursing home for unmarried mothers.
This is an engaging and easy read, filled with family drama, long-buried secrets and emotional scars. At its heart is the supportive friendship between the three women, and Grainger does a good job of creating believable, well-rounded characters. I particularly enjoyed the gentle humour throughout the novel, especially the portrayal of Orla’s husband Bernard and his rather predictable mid-life crisis. The antagonists, however, felt somewhat stereotypical.
The novel is well written and absorbing, although I found the central mystery fairly easy to predict, which lessened its impact. I had also expected Dunmara House itself to play a larger role in the story and, subsequently, the prologue and epilogue felt slightly disconnected from the main narrative.
As the first instalment in a series, the ending leaves many threads unresolved. While this may frustrate some readers, it certainly succeeds in encouraging you to pick up the next book to discover what happens next.
