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In this historical novel, we go to Dublin back when all forms of contraception were banned, though you could get them over the border in Belfast. Old Maura tells her story to young Saoirse where they've just met on a train ride to Belfast in 2023. Maura lived through those fraught days in the '70s. She was married to a doctor who looked good to the outside world but was brutal and controlling in private. She kept having miscarriages, to his disgust. She made friends with Bernie who already had two children, almost died with the third, and desperately needed “French letters” to regain intimacy with her husband because another pregnancy would have killed her. Maura describes the demonstration four decades ago on that very platform where Irish women spoke up to demand access to condoms and pills. It’s especially relevant for Saoirse because her fiancé is pressuring her to have children, and this extended conversation helps her choose her own destiny. Vivid and well-researched.
Willa Mae was buried on the grounds of a seedy Texas motel and her dubious resting place is about to be bulldozed, so assorted members of her family need to act fast. Especially because she was supposedly interred with her jewels which could bring them a much needed infusion of cash, but her retrieval not a concerted effort because her offspring are at odds. Hijinks, mixups, and derring do crash along to a predictably funky finale. Parks is also a playwright, which makes the Black vernacular dialog sing. Wonderful dark humor.
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