THE PLOT: A Family Matter by Claire Lynch is a dual-timeline literary novel about a family torn apart when the mother leaves. In 1982, Dawn is a young housewife and devoted mother caged by life in a small village. When she meets Hazel at a jumble sale, her whole world becomes brighter. In 2022, Maggie has always lived with her mother’s absence. Her father never speaks of how they were both abandoned. But when Maggie uncovers shocking news from the past, she must reconcile with a different version of the life-story she’s always believed.
SUMMARY: This is a beautifully written and poignant novel that is a testament to the struggles of lesbian mothers in the 1980s. As revealed by the author’s note, 90% of lesbian mothers in the UK lost custody of their children due to prejudice and stigma. This was further fuelled by Margaret Thatcher’s infamous Section 28 law, which banned teaching ‘the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship’. This well-researched novel is based in factual testimonies of families torn apart by the courts. It bears witness to how far we’ve come in the fight against oppression and how fragile those hard-won rights still are. Structured in a dual-timeline, the switch between 1980s and 2020s was very effective to bring out the contrast and similarities between the two women and time-periods. A quiet novel, it is a portrait of motherhood, grief and everyday love.
GOOD BITS: My favourite aspect was undoubtedly the writing style. I kept turning to my husband to read him my lines aloud, which is demonstrates how impactful it was. The novel centres on family relationships and the things left unsaid. The dialogue was particularly effective in its realistic hesitations and subtext, and it is well-paired with thoughtful, gentle interiority of the characters. A less skilled author would be accused of ‘head hopping’ but Lynch is able to expertly navigate between Heron, Dawn and Maggie’s perspectives using scene breaks in a way that doesn’t feel jarring. Another demonstration of the author’s skill is the book’s opening – it’s a masterclass in creating surprise and tension in a quiet novel. Heron’s bewilderment in the freezer and the manager being kind instead of angry are a great example of subverting reader expectations. Finally, the women’s group was particularly touching. It was a nice way to show societal context in an emotionally moving way and to pay tribute to the real organisations that existed to support lesbian mothers in the 1980s.
NOT SO GOOD BITS: Although it’s only 200-pages, it took me a while to read this book because my mind kept wandering. Whether it was taking inspiration from the writing or reflecting on my own family traumas, I found myself regularly pausing after each chapter and I struggled to maintain momentum. This isn’t a criticism and is probably a testament to how thought-provoking this novel is.
OVERALL: I’d recommend this book to fans of Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan, Girl Meets Boy by Ali Smith and The Queen of Dirt Island by Donal Ryan. If you’re a fan of moving, quiet novels then this is a book for you. Just make sure you have a pencil in hand to underline passages as you read!
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