DUBLIN’S FAIR CITY by @cathymansell3 #WomensFiction #BookReview

Dublin’s Fair City by Cathy Mansell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Dublin’s Fair City is Women’s Fiction set in the mid 1960’s in Dublin and Birmingham. This is a light easy read, a mix of family saga and light romance. Eighteen year old Aileen Maguire lives with her parents, they run a haberdashery shop. Eileen’s mother is ill and on her deathbed writes a small note asking Aileen to find her long lost brother and ask his forgiveness.

Aileen’s father is shocked by his wife’s death and secret revelation, he falls into despair and whilst grieving allows Aileen’s Aunt Lizzie to take over and Aileen finds herself cold shouldered out of the family home. She goes to Birmingham to stay with a distant relative and wishes to discover more about her mother and her past. However the answers are not in England.

Events in England test her relationship with boyfriend Dermot who is back in Ireland, they take their relationship to breaking point when Aileen finally returns home for good. Can she find the answers about her long lost brother? Will she make things right with Dermot?

The storyline is very much dialogue led which slows the pace and for me, misses opportunities for leading the read with descriptive sentences filled with emotion and passion. There is room to add depth to the writing by taking more time with the main points and considering if all the lesser story threads add to the main theme. To remain competitive in the saturated women’s fiction genre I’d like to see a slimming of weak words and sentences and a touch up of the dialogue to make it vivid, sharp and pace setting.

Find a copy here from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

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