Ordinary Human Failings By Megan Nolan – A Review

Publisher: Jonathan Cape

Publication Date: 13th July 2023

Set on a 1990’s London housing estate Ordinary Human Failings by Megan Nolan opens up at a point when the 3 year old daughter of a well loved family goes missing and is found dead with marks around her neck. The 10 year old daughter of an Irish immigrant family on the estate known as the Greens was the last to be seen with her.

The Greens are made up of John, his alcoholic son from his first marriage Richie, his aloof and closed off daughter Carmel and her 10 year old daughter Lucy. The family lost Rose, wife of John and mother of Carmel a couple of years prior. The family left Waterford in Ireland for London when young Carmel found herself pregnant and unable to have an abortion. Rose brought her family to London hoping for a fresh start but found that you can’t outrun your problems.

After the death of Mia the young child on the estate, journalist Tom Hargreaves spies a story that could give him some notoriety. He is aware that The Greens are reviled on the estate, seen as bad apples and judged. He wants to know what their dark secret is, because he is utterly convinced they must have one and makes it his mission to break them down to discover it. He inveigles himself into their lives whilst the police investigation is underway by getting the newspaper to pay for a hotel to put them up in, away from the growing ill-feeling on the estate. This then gives him unfettered access to the family and allows him to approach each person individually and play on their weaknesses (in this case mainly alcohol).

But as we spend time with each person we see that yes they each have their failings but as titled in the book they are ordinary human failings. They each have negative events that have shaped them and made them the people they are. They are a fractured family who have closed themselves off from each other very much to their detriment. But can Tom find the story he was hoping for?..

I absolutely flew through this in one day! I really enjoyed Megan Nolan’s debut, Acts Of Desperation but this book is completely different. I was not only heavily invested in the crime that had taken place and on which the novel hangs but also the individual flawed characters and their backstories.

On the surface you think you know who these people are. You can maybe see why they are judged so harshly by their neighbours on the estate but through Toms probing and the chipping away at their insecurities, barriers come down and you see the real people with real life problems underneath.

This is a book about a fractured family who by circumstance are forced to look at not only themselves but each other under a microscope and deal with what they find.

I loved the writing style, I loved the multiple POV third person perspectives and I thought the ending was beautiful.

I thoroughly enjoyed it and will be thinking about it for a long time to come.

Thank you to Sophie Painter and Jonathan Cape for my proof copy.

See you all soon.

Amanda x @bookishchat