Graham Norton is one of the great modern-day storytellers. He spins a yarn that draws you in from the first page and keeps you glued to the last. And so it proved again with his new novel, Forever Home, received from Jonathan Ball Publishers, which I devoured in one sitting.
It is pure joy, filled with sharp observation, nuanced characterisation, humour, and a twisty plot to keep you guessing. Though Forever Home is probably best described as a crime comedy noir, Norton tackles a host of “taboo” subjects and makes light of most of them with his signature wit.
Carol is a divorced teacher living in a small Irish town; her only son is fully grown and has flown the coop when she meets and falls in love with an older man, Declan. Despite her family’s scepticism and the typical small-town gossip, including whispers about their age gap and the whereabouts of his first wife, Carol’s love for and sense of belonging with Declan convince her to move in with him.
That is until, a few years later, Declan falls ill. Despite her willingness to care for him, his children step in, place their father in a care centre, and force Carol to leave her beloved home. Many questions arise when the kids promptly put the house on the market. Carol has no choice but to move into her childhood home with her retired parents. Her mother, Moira (a delightful, powerful Irish mammy full of determination and a “let’s fix it” attitude), is determined to protect her daughter from further suffering and to get to the bottom of how things ended with Declan’s family. As it turns out, there are dark secrets and a slew of unconfirmed rumours in Declan's past, and suddenly the house they shared takes on a more sinister significance. Forever Home is tense, dark, and comical and casts a light on the many nuances of family relationships, including domination, manipulation, and control – be they between couples, fathers and sons, mothers and daughters – and how those aspects characterise the very fabric of family life.
What I enjoyed most about Norton’s latest offering is the realness, the fun, and the “heart” encapsulated in this novel. As he says in his acknowledgements, “inventing a story is a particular sort of pleasure but sharing it with others is the best feeling in the world”. And long may the talented Irishman continue to share his delightful musings with the world.
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