POPULAR FICTION: The Book Club, By Kate McCabe, Poolbeg, 390pp. €5.99'Looking for a way to pass the cold winter nights . . . Marian Hunt decides to start a book club," says the back cover of Kate McCabe's novel, and this could just as well have been the writer's intention with this third outing, writes Catherine Daly.
It takes a while to catch its stride, with a detailed life-story for each character, but once the cast is assembled The Book Club proves an easy way to pass a few hours.
Against the backdrop of Celtic Tiger Dublin, a disparate group assembles in response to Marian's book club ad. A disgraced poet wants inspiration for the novel he hopes will redeem him in the eyes of Dublin's literary critics, while a recently bereaved young widow wants a gentle way to emerge from her grief. An older couple are looking for a new interest as the wife recovers from a stroke, and a dishy neighbour hopes to distract Marian from her solitude. But Marian's ex, the scheming solicitor Alan McMillan, provides most of the excitement as he insinuates himself into the book club to try and get her back.
And, unusually for this genre, the male characters are the most interesting, especially when it seems the author is taking a little dig at male contemporaries. On discovering that the first book club book is to be Rebecca, Nick, the aspiring novelist, dreams of emulating du Maurier's combined critical and popular success. With his first novel. Which he hasn't actually started writing yet.
Catherine Daly's most recent novel, A French Affair, was published in 2006. She is chairwoman of Irish PEN