Girl on the Leeside

Playwright Kenney delves into Irish poetry and literature in her debut novel about a bartender who suddenly finds her isolated life opened up with the arrival of an unexpected guest at her quiet pub. Siobhan Doyle has lived with her Uncle Kee since the unexpected death of her mother 25 years earlier. She enjoys the quiet, picturesque life she and Kee have crafted at the Leeside, a centuries-old family pub they run together in a rural Irish town. But their routine is turned upside down when Professor Tim Ferris, an American who studies Irish literature and poetry, arrives for a few days stay. As she and Tim begin to bond, Siobhan considers the possibility of life beyond the Leeside—especially after it is revealed that her uncle lied about her father’s fate. Though rooted interestingly in a bond over literature, the novel lacks depth at times. Despite Siobhan being nearly 30 years old, she is characterized like a stereotypically Irish manic pixie dream girl: childish, ethereal, and lacking in realism. Alternately rushed and weighed down by wooden dialogue, Kenney’s novel sidesteps the most compelling parts of its own plot (including an IRA bombing) and themes (the place of literature in social identity) in favor of heavy-handed tropes. Agent: Marly Rusoff, Marly Rusoff Literary. (June)