#BookReview of Though the Bodies Fall by Noel O’Regan

‘From an exciting new voice in Irish fiction, a powerful novel set on an Irish clifftop‘
– Though the Bodies Fall (Publisher Quote)

[ About Though the Bodies Fall ]

Micheál Burns lives alone in his family’s bungalow at the end of Kerry Head in Ireland. It is a picturesque place, but the cliffs have a darker side to them: for generations they have been a suicide black spot. Micheál’s mother saw the saving of these lost souls – these visitors – as her spiritual duty, and now, in the wreckage of his life, Micheál finds himself continuing her work. When his sisters tell him that they want to sell the land, he must choose between his siblings and the visitors, a future or a past.

[ My Review ]

Though the Bodies Fall by Noel O’Regan published with Granta August 3rd 2023 and is described as ‘a powerful novel set on an Irish clifftop – a story about duty, despair and the chance encounters upon which fate turns.‘ I was supposed to be interviewing Noel at the recent Words by Water/Kinsale Literary Festival but circumstances arose which made it impossible for me to attend, so I’m writing my thoughts here instead.

From when I was a baby, and all through my teenage years right up to my twenties and beyond, my family spent our annual summer holiday in the beautiful seaside village of Ballyheigue in Co. Kerry. My memories of those years are special and Ballyheigue will always hold a very unique place in my heart. I eventually did marry a Kerry man whose maternal relatives are all local to Ballyheigue, and its surrounding townlands, so it seems I will forever have a connection with this part of the world.

Noel O’Regan is a Tralee man, not too far from Ballyheigue, and his roots are clearly embedded in his home county. Basing his debut novel on the Kerry Head, close to the village of Ballyheigue adds a very authentic edge to this quiet and tender story of a family locked in a cycle that has caused so much grief and heartache over the years.

Micheál Burns, the central character in this novel, has been scarred by his past and the lives of those who have gone before him. Micheál grew up in an idyllic location out on the Kerry Head surrounded by the beauty of nature and the power of the sea. But his home was never truly a place of comfort but instead a place of sadness and heartbreak. All through the years, people who chose to end their own lives, would make their way past the Burns’ household to the cliff edge and, ultimately, leave their demons behind them. When his father died, Micheál’s mother selected him as her companion to provide last minute consolation and possible salvation to those lost souls. Micheál was only a young lad when he got the first call to meet ‘a visitor’ and it was the moment that changed his life forever. Once a carefree lad who enjoyed hanging out with his friends and playing hurling, he now became introverted, spending any spare time at home, just in case. This just-in-case became a life sentence for Micheál and, as much as he tried to leave over the years, the draw was just too powerful and he kept returning home.

Now, his mother has passed away and his sisters live elsewhere. They wish to sell the family home but Micheál is stuck there. He cannot just leave. Who will look after the visitors? Who will be there to talk them down off this dark edge that they are on? Micheál feels a strong obligation. He has devoted his life to this cause but the lack of sleep, the necessary constant alertness, is affecting his mental health.

In this remarkable debut Noel O’Regan examines the mother-child relationship and the impact those formative years can have on our lives. Micheál’s mother had a sense of duty to these wandering visitors and her obsessiveness could be viewed as her unintentionally abandoning her own children to fulfil her own need to help others. Or was she too caught up, like Micheál, in this vicious cycle of anguish? Her children, Micheál and his two sisters, paid a very heavy price throughout their lives and the novel, using flashbacks, provides insights into their younger years.

Suicide, by its nature, is a very traumatic theme for any author to write about but for a debut writer it is really quite remarkable. Noel O’Regan’s writing is silent but strong. He uses extraordinary descriptions when writing of the landscape out the Kerry Head way, providing very intense visuals, with the scent and sound of the bay heightened across the novel.

Though the Bodies Fall is a captivating, atmospheric and beautifully tender debut. It is an extraordinarily evocative reading experience with characters that linger well after that final page is turned. Noel wrote a great piece for writing.ie where he describes his journey as being due to ‘years upon years of hard work and perseverance on my end. Some luck, of course. And those ashore who helped to right the mast.’ I wish him well and suspect that we will be hearing a lot more from this very talented Irish writer.

[ Bio ]

Born in Tralee, County Kerry, on the south-west coast of Ireland, Noel is the recipient of a number of awards, including a Seán Dunne Young Writer Award and an Arts Council Next Generation Artist Award.

His short fiction has appeared in publications such as The Stinging Fly, Granta, Ambit, Banshee and The London Magazine. 

His debut novel, Though the Bodies Fall, is published by Granta Books.