The new year looks to be a good one for readers, with many terrific books on the horizon.
I began 2025 with two books with small town settings- one in Potsdam, New York, and one in a small Irish village of Faha set in 1962.
Tracey Lange’s third novel, What Happened to the McCray’s? continues in her genre of writing wonderful novels about families navigating the travails of life. (Her previous books, We Are The Brennans and The Connellys of County Down are both excellent.)
Kyle McCray is living a spartan existence in Spokane after leaving his wife and hometown of Postdam, New York suddenly two and half years ago. He gets a call that his father Danny has had a stroke, and Kyle’s former youth hockey coach and his dad’s best friend tells him that he needs to come home to care for his father.
When Kyle returns home, he finds his former wife Casey has been taking care of his Dad in his absence. Things are tense between Kyle and Casey, but the reader is not privy to why Kyle up and left his wife and his auto repair business suddenly.
Casey is a middle school social studies teacher and manages the junior hockey squad. Her brother Wyatt uses a wheelchair and lives with Casey. Wyatt is not happy to see Kyle back in town.
We know that Kyle is not a bad guy, we saw him help a young sandwich shop worker when a group of young men came into her store and harassed her. We get Kyle’s and Casey’s backstory, both children of single parents who helped each other’s families out. They had been high school sweethearts, loving and caring with each other.
Soon the reader discovers the sad reason that led to Kyle leaving his wife and the hometown he loves.
Lange puts the reader right inside this snowy, cold town of Potsdam, where everyone lives for hockey. Kyle was a hockey superstar in his younger days, beloved by all. She gets the small town, college town vibe just right.
I love all of Tracey Lange’s books, and What Happened to the McCray’s is her best yet. Her characters feel real, as does the way they face the challenges that life throws at them and the relationships among the characters.
Irish writer Niall Williams introduced readers to the small Irish village of Faha first in This Is Happiness. He returns to Faha in his latest novel, Time of the Child. Like Lange, Williams brings readers right into the setting of the book, which is really a character as well.
Fair day is always a big day in Faha, when people bring their animals to the town to try and sell them. There are restaurants and food booths, games, and entertainment. The whole town turns out.
It’s December of 1962, and twelve year-old Jude Quinlan is accompanying his father Pat to town, where his father is hoping to sell his cattle and make enough money to keep the family afloat. Jude’s mother gives him instructions to make sure his father comes home after the sale, rightfully worried that Pat will end up in the pub.
We follow Jude all fair day, where at the end of the day, he finds an abandoned baby. Jude and two neighbors bring the baby to the home of the town doctor, Jack Troy, and Jack’s oldest daughter Ronnie.
Jack tells Jude and the neighbors not to say a word to anyone about finding the baby and they agree. Jack sees that Ronnie has immediately fallen in love with the baby. They care for the child and hide her from the residents of the town while Jack tries to come to some kind of solution. They conclude that someone who traveled from out of town to the fair to abandoned the child.
It’s 1962, and a single woman like Ronnie would never be able to adopt the baby. If they turn the child over to the authorities, Ronnie’s heart will be broken.
Williams writes such gorgeous prose, I frequently had to stop and close the book to ponder the profound things he said about love, both romantic and parental.
The characters here, as in What Happened to the McCray’s?, are vividly drawn, and I particularly liked the older priest who is suffering from dementia. The friendship between him and Dr. Troy is moving.
Time of the Child and What Happened to the McCray’s? are both beautiful books, more about character than plot. You grow to know and care about these people, people who are just trying to do their best in sometimes challenging conditions. Just like all of us.
What Happened to the McCray’s? by Tracey Lange- A+
Published by Celadon
Hardcover, $28.99, 352 pages
Time of the Child by Niall Williams A+
Published by Bloomsbury
Hardcover, $28.99, 287 pages
