The Alternatives: A Novel
(Libby/OverDrive eBook, Kindle)

Olwen Flattery, the oldest of four sisters, has already been dealt a rough hand. Orphaned when the sisters were just teenagers, Olwen has had to see her siblings through to adulthood. In setting up a life with a widower and his two young boys she played savior yet again. So when the realities of the geology lessons she teaches at the University of Galway hit home, extreme climate anxiety does her in and she disappears. The sisters, accomplished professionals all, close ranks to track their missing sibling and to try to flesh out a more cohesive picture of their current adult lives. Hughes' (The Wild Laughter, 2020) writing is simply brilliant: An opinion was "sculpted in brass in their youth and can never be changed beyond the inevitable tarnishing or a quick polish." The dynamics of the sisters' interactions and the easy way they anticipate each others' needs while slipping into decades-old roles are the novel's highlights. Frustratingly, the sisters come together and part again without really solving Olwen's crisis. But perhaps that's the point; in their years of functioning as a collective unit, they know that sometimes the best remedy is to know the limits of your own influence.

A 39-year-old geology professor disappears from her Galway campus, prompting her three sisters to reunite and track her down, in the intelligent if uneven latest from Hughes (The Wild Laughter). When Olwen Flattery was 18, her parents died in an accidental fall from a cliff, and she became legal guardian of her three younger sisters: Maeve, a celebrity chef in London whose recipes Hughes presents as simultaneously silly and delectable (a "fancy fish taco" comprises "red mullet with anchovy-rosemary sauce on a cabbage leaf"); Nell, an adjunct philosophy professor at a Connecticut college; and Rhona, a hard-headed Dublin political scientist. At times, Hughes reaches for dark comedy, as when she describes how both parents ended up at the bottom of the cliff ("the heavier one reached out to grasp her--reached too far; grasped too well"). Elsewhere, she strikes an earnest note as the women reunite in Ireland and reckon with Olwen's history of alcoholism. The inconsistent tone can be jarring, but Hughes shines when weaving the dense intellectual material of the three academic sisters' work into their dialogue ("Just don't start on about the mind-body separateness of a pint of Guinness," Maeve jokes to Nell). This one perplexes and stimulates in equal measure. Agent: Bill Clegg, Clegg Agency. (Apr.)

Four Irish sisters lose their parents in a wild storm. Afterward, Olwen, the oldest, struggles to hold the family together with minimal help from relatives until all four girls are old enough to be independent. The sisters survive and each earn doctorates in various fields. Rhona is a political organizer, Nell is a philosopher, Maeve is a chef/internet influencer, and Olwen is a geologist. The sisters go their separate ways for a time, each scarred by the loss of their parents. One day, without warning, Olwen disappears. Rhona, Nell, and Maeve reunite to track her down, but Olwen doesn't really want to be found. When her sisters appear, their persistence wears her down and she allows them to stay for a few days. During this impromptu family reunion, the sisters reconnect and begin to understand each other and the choices they have made. They reorganize their alliances and regroup as a family, and Olwen comes to understand, in the most vivid circumstances possible, the cost of isolation. VERDICT Hughes (The Wild Laughter) tells an intriguing story of complex family connections, highlighting the diversity that often exists among siblings, and underlining the commonalities that tie them together. Readers will enjoy this story about the need for family, independence, and support.--Joanna M. Burkhardt

When a woman goes off the grid, her younger sisters' search for her reopens old wounds and brings new insights. The first chapter shows Olwen Flattery to be a dedicated professor of geology at the University of Galway, as nurturing of her students as she is of her partner Jasper's two young sons. Yet when the scene shifts to her sister Maeve, a culinary star in London, Olwen has disappeared without a word to anyone. Irish author Hughes delicately establishes the characters and concerns of all four siblings before she sends them to hunt for Olwen. Maeve tangles with wealthy catering clients and her publisher over her desire to make gourmet cooking sustainable. Rhona, a high-powered political science professor at Trinity College Dublin, uses her government connections to advocate for citizens' assemblies to end polarization and stalemate. Nell, scraping together a living from multiple adjunct positions at American colleges, can't get tenure because she refuses to give her work "universal appeal," focusing instead on teaching philosophy as a tool for living with more meaningful goals than success and money. Each sister is trying in her own field to halt humanity's senseless rush toward political and ecological catastrophe; the words "alternatives" (to our wasteful ways) and "care" (for our planet and our polity) are used frequently. So when her sisters find Olwen tinkering with solar panels on a farmhouse near the Northern Ireland border, it seems her motives for leaving may be linked to their mutual concern for the planet's future. Hughes slowly reveals the shared childhood trauma that forged the Flattery sisters' convictions, and their resentments toward each other. Her moving, richly detailed portraits of their personal struggles give emotional depth to Hughes' underlying theme: when we stop caring--for ourselves, each other, and the world--disaster will surely follow. Intelligent, impassioned, and wholly satisfying. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

*Starred Review* Olwen Flattery, the oldest of four sisters, has already been dealt a rough hand. Orphaned when the sisters were just teenagers, Olwen has had to see her siblings through to adulthood. In setting up a life with a widower and his two young boys she played savior yet again. So when the realities of the geology lessons she teaches at the University of Galway hit home, extreme climate anxiety does her in and she disappears. The sisters, accomplished professionals all, close ranks to track their missing sibling and to try to flesh out a more cohesive picture of their current adult lives. Hughes' (The Wild Laughter, 2020) writing is simply brilliant: An opinion was "sculpted in brass in their youth and can never be changed beyond the inevitable tarnishing or a quick polish." The dynamics of the sisters' interactions and the easy way they anticipate each others' needs while slipping into decades-old roles are the novel's highlights. Frustratingly, the sisters come together and part again without really solving Olwen's crisis. But perhaps that's the point; in their years of functioning as a collective unit, they know that sometimes the best remedy is to know the limits of your own influence. Copyright 2024 Booklist Reviews.

Award-winning Irish poet and novelist Hughes (The Wild Laughter), currently a Cullman Fellow at NYPL, writes a new novel that features four sisters whose parents died tragically. As adults, the women lead separate lives across the globe, until one of them abruptly disappears, and the sisters reunite to search the Irish countryside. Prepub Alert. Copyright 2023 Library Journal

Four Irish sisters lose their parents in a wild storm. Afterward, Olwen, the oldest, struggles to hold the family together with minimal help from relatives until all four girls are old enough to be independent. The sisters survive and each earn doctorates in various fields. Rhona is a political organizer, Nell is a philosopher, Maeve is a chef/internet influencer, and Olwen is a geologist. The sisters go their separate ways for a time, each scarred by the loss of their parents. One day, without warning, Olwen disappears. Rhona, Nell, and Maeve reunite to track her down, but Olwen doesn't really want to be found. When her sisters appear, their persistence wears her down and she allows them to stay for a few days. During this impromptu family reunion, the sisters reconnect and begin to understand each other and the choices they have made. They reorganize their alliances and regroup as a family, and Olwen comes to understand, in the most vivid circumstances possible, the cost of isolation. VERDICT Hughes (The Wild Laughter) tells an intriguing story of complex family connections, highlighting the diversity that often exists among siblings, and underlining the commonalities that tie them together. Readers will enjoy this story about the need for family, independence, and support.—Joanna M. Burkhardt

A 39-year-old geology professor disappears from her Galway campus, prompting her three sisters to reunite and track her down, in the intelligent if uneven latest from Hughes (The Wild Laughter). When Olwen Flattery was 18, her parents died in an accidental fall from a cliff, and she became legal guardian of her three younger sisters: Maeve, a celebrity chef in London whose recipes Hughes presents as simultaneously silly and delectable (a "fancy fish taco" comprises "red mullet with anchovy-rosemary sauce on a cabbage leaf"); Nell, an adjunct philosophy professor at a Connecticut college; and Rhona, a hard-headed Dublin political scientist. At times, Hughes reaches for dark comedy, as when she describes how both parents ended up at the bottom of the cliff ("the heavier one reached out to grasp her—reached too far; grasped too well"). Elsewhere, she strikes an earnest note as the women reunite in Ireland and reckon with Olwen's history of alcoholism. The inconsistent tone can be jarring, but Hughes shines when weaving the dense intellectual material of the three academic sisters' work into their dialogue ("Just don't start on about the mind-body separateness of a pint of Guinness," Maeve jokes to Nell). This one perplexes and stimulates in equal measure. Agent: Bill Clegg, Clegg Agency. (Apr.)