One morning, about two years into the marriage, she walks into his garage-cum-office and announces that she is leaving, perhaps just for a while, but she really has to go. "But", he says, pushing his glasses back on. "But, ah, where would you go?" Exactly the sort of response Claire envisioned from this rational man. And there is that "ah," which can drive a person mad.
Claire leaves for Ireland to visit her younger sister, Noelle, a barmaid in her fiancé's family pub. The relationship between the sisters is complicated by the fact that they are seven years apart, as different as two people can be, and have very different opinions of their deceased mother, Deirdre. Their father, Gene, is a bit of a shadow figure, never really coming into being in the novel, because Deirdre and Noelle took up all the oxygen in any room they were in. Deirdre was an alcoholic, perennially in her sickbed, dismissive of anything Claire accomplished and hanging on Noelle's every word. Claire was not sorry to leave her family behind, even for the Bug Man and New Hampshire.
When she arrives in Ireland, once again the light shines only on Noelle, who is about to marry Paul. While there, Claire discovers everything she needs to know to get on with her life: the true meaning of family, loyalty and the redemption of forgiveness.
An added attraction of this well-written novel is Juska's wordplay. She sends Claire musing about what words might mean:
i.e., Flake:
Airhead
Frosted cereal
Erode
Forget
There are several word-strings that are indicative of where Claire's thoughts are taking her. She, who is the linguist, has to find a language for who she is, what she thinks and what's next. --Valerie Ryan