When All Is Said by Anne Griffin

WHEN ALL IS SAID is a fabulous debut novel by award-winning Irish author Anne Griffin. Set in Ireland, this was the perfect read for Saint Patrick’s Day, but readers will be transported whenever they make the wise choice to spend time with the main character, 84 year-old Maurice Hannigan.  In a reflective mood, Maurice muses about “quiet men, contented in their simplicity, sitting on porches, rocking on chairs, listening to radios and crickets as evening turned to night. Hands as big as shovels, but nimble as stonemasons’.”

The story takes place over five toasts involving stout and whiskies on a summer night in 2014 as Maurice reminisces about his childhood and his time with brother Tony, his children Molly and Kevin, sister-in-law Noreen, and recently deceased wife, Sadie. Maurice primarily relates a story for his son Kevin, saying at one point, “Mad isn’t it? There you were, my living son right in front of me, waiting to be noticed, but my head lingered with a ghost. My heart, missing a small beat of its rhythm. Not so unlike my mother after all.” Throughout the many flashbacks, there are multiple references to the Dollards, the local landed gentry and their own fraught family history. 

The tone is a bit melancholy throughout with too many untimely deaths and a believable mix of regrets, guilt, grieving, and love: “Loneliness, that fecker again, wreaking his havoc on us mortals. It’s worse than any disease, gnawing away at our bones as we sleep, plaguing our minds when awake.”  WHEN ALL IS SAID received a starred review from Library Journal. I highly recommend it.