October 23, 2023
Two young women in 2013 Scotland fall in love and attempt to deal with their respective trauma and anxiety in Taylor’s raw debut. Aisling is 18 when she leaves County Clare and her strict Irish Catholic family and moves to Edinburgh to study literature. Her first lesbian relationship, with a high school classmate, was made up of clandestine meetings, and when her mother found out, she punished Aisling during Mass by digging her fingernails into Aisling’s palm so hard she left a scar. Now, finally free to express her sexuality, Aisling joins a poetry group and shares poems about her high school love and her complicated relationship with her mother. Fellow group member Maya, a 20-year-old Londoner, recently started a relationship with a man. She seems an unlikely love interest at first, but as Aisling and Maya spend more time together, it becomes impossible to deny their feelings for each other. Aisling suspects her mother’s abusive patterns are caused by repression of her own sexuality and she struggles with the fear that she has inherited her mother’s rage. Tension develops, though, when Aisling takes issue with Maya’s heavy drinking, which is her coping mechanism for anxiety, leading to the novel’s abrupt and open-ended conclusion. Though the story feels unfinished, Taylor beautifully portrays the progression of the girls’ emotional intimacy. This shows promise. Agent: Millie Hoskins, United Agents.
Starred review from May 31, 2024
That moment of instant connection, magnetic attraction, can be joltingly intense--especially when it challenges everything one knows about oneself. This is exactly what happens when Maya (daughter to a London artist) sees Aisling for the first time. Aisling, who has moved from her native Ireland to Edinburgh to attend university and escape a traumatic family life, first meets Maya at a student poetry meeting. The two women bond over their love of poetry and literature, and a new friendship evolves into something more. In a novel by turns heartbreaking and astoundingly beautiful, listeners hear the internal narrative of both women, with each chapter told from alternating viewpoints. Taylor's debut is delivered through the talented performances of British actor Helena Wilson as Maya and Irish actor R�is�n Rankin as Aisling, who delicately convey the complex emotions that accompany trauma, anxiety, and the vulnerable elements of self-discovery. Taylor provides a lyrical reading of the author's note, describing the decisions made when choosing how to effectively communicate the novel's final, purposely ambiguous chapters in audio. VERDICT An intimate, lyrically told story, recommended for any audio romance collection (though it's BISACed as coming-of-age fiction).--Katy Duperry
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