Closed Doors

April 14, 2014
O’Donnell’s second novel (after The Death of Bees) is narrated by Michael Murray, an 11-year-old boy living with his parents and grandmother on a small island off the coast of Scotland during the Thatcher era. Early on, something terrible happens to Michael’s mother, Rosemary; he’s told that she fell down while running away from a flasher. Michael is spared the truth and initially accepts the explanation he’s given, but O’Donnell leaves plenty of clues suggesting that something tragic has occurred. In one of the novel’s most striking moments, Michael, desperate to make sense of his mother’s descent into depression and his father’s increasing anger over the crime, combs through dictionary entries of words he’s overheard his parents use while arguing. Though O’Donnell creates a powerful voice for her young protagonist, she is less than fair to Rosemary, whose fear that telling the truth would open her up to victim blaming is presented as simply a source of pain to others, rather than as a legitimate concern. Agent: Alex Christofi, Corville and Walsh (U.K.).

January 1, 2014

As in The Death of Bees, a 2013 Commonwealth Book Prize winner, O'Donnell looks at adult misbehavior through the eyes of a child. Eleven-year-old Michael Murray has peered behind enough doors to know why his mother's face is often bruised, but he suspects that more secrets await him. With a 35,000-copy first printing.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from April 15, 2014
Feisty, young Michael Murray likes to eavesdrop through doors. When his mother arrives home with bruises on her face, he is confused and frightened by what he hears. Soon after, Michael is shunned by certain schoolmates, and his father becomes a pariah in their small community. But why? Over the course of several months, Michael manages to piece together the events of that fateful night and learns the secret that is tearing his family apart. Set in the early 1980s on a picturesque island off the coast of Scotland, the novel is told in first person from Michael's perspective. O'Donnell wonderfully captures the voice of a precocious (and quite likable) 11-year-old as he grapples with issues and emotions he may not fully understand. The novel asks (and possibly answers) two important questionsto what extent should children be protected from the truth, and does silence do more harm than good? While it deals with disturbing subject matter, this is an engaging page-turner that effectively explores the trials and tribulations of childhood with warmth and humor.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)