Goodreads says, "It’s been years since the three Ryan sisters were all home together at their family’s beloved house on the eastern shore of Long Island. Two decades ago, their lives were upended by an accident on their brother Topher’s boat, a friend’s brother was killed, the lawsuit nearly bankrupted their parents, and Topher spiraled into a depression, eventually taking his life. Now the Ryan women are back for Thanksgiving, eager to reconnect, but each carrying a heavy secret. The eldest, Cait, still holding guilt for the role no one knows she played in the boat accident, rekindles a flame with her high school crush, Topher’s best friend and the brother of the boy who died. Middle sister Alice’s been thrown a curveball threatening the career she’s restarting and faces a difficult decision that may doom her marriage. And the youngest, Maggie, is finally taking the risk to bring the woman she loves home to her devoutly Catholic mother. Infusing everything is the grief for Topher that none of the Ryans have figured out how to carry together.
When Cait invites a guest to Thanksgiving dinner, old tensions boil over and new truths surface, nearly overpowering the flickering light of their family bond. Far more than a family holiday will be ruined unless the sisters can find a way to forgive themselves—and one another."
Twenty-five years after a family tragedy, the Ryan family returns to their beloved Long Island home for Thanksgiving. There's Nora, the matriarch and a devout Catholic who grew up in an Irish orphanage, and her husband, Robert, who is trying desperately to keep up on the upkeep of the Folly, their sprawling home on the coast. Their three daughters and their families will be coming to Thanksgiving, starting with Alice, who never left the small Long Island town. She is the dutiful daughter who takes care of her parents' needs, her children, and tries to do it all. Cait is returning home from London along with her twins; she is newly divorced. Then there's Maggie, who is dealing with a lot personally and at work, but is bringing home her new girlfriend for the holiday weekend. The only Ryan they are missing is Topher, who died tragically in a boating accident twenty five years ago, and the grief over his death is still weighing heavily on the Ryan family. Each Ryan sibling is dealing with something over Thanksgiving - some kind of heavy secret that is waiting to be exposed. Throw in some usual family dynamics over the holiday, and you've got yourself a pressure cooker waiting to bubble over. The Irish Goodbye by Heather Aimee O'Neill is a debut novel with a lot of heart and is perfect for fans of contemporary family dramas.
The nice thing about the Ryan family is that you can find at least one family member to relate to in The Irish Goodbye. Each sister is dealing with their own personal struggles, and O'Neill dives into their stories as the points of view alternate between chapters. Alice is dealing with the struggles of midlife as she tries to reinvent herself after focusing on her own family for years. However, something happens to derail her plans. Cait is newly divorced and struggling to "single" parent her rambunctious twins and is wondering about her former crush, Luke, who is back home as well for the holiday. This is complicated because Luke was Topher's best friend, so having him around brings a lot of issues back to the surface. Maggie has a secret she is keeping from her girlfriend she brought home for the holiday - so throw that into the mix with the loud and nosy Ryan family, readers are in for a Thanksgiving that is anything but perfect.
I really enjoy family novels, so I enjoyed that aspect of The Irish Goodbye, but I felt that O'Neill really only scratched the surface of the characters. I felt like I could care about them more if she dived into what makes them tick and peeled back some layers. I did enjoy the flashbacks to their childhood as that helped paint a better picture, but overall, I enjoyed the Ryan family and all of their struggles, trauma, and quirks.
The Irish Goodbye is a family story about grief, forgiveness, secrets, and moving on from family trauma. It's about forgiving and accepting people for who they are. I look forward to reading more of O'Neill's novels in the future. Have you read The Irish Goodbye? Let me know in the comments below.
