REVIEW - Remember June Novel by Damien Leith

[Spud]

But didn't June live with her parents when Dave and Stephen met her? And didn't they meet her when they were living in England with Johnny? That's what confused me - I thought June and her family were from England and then all of a sudden their Dad was living in Ireland and I was like, "huh?"

[erinbella]

Yes June was living in Ireland with her parents when Stephen and Dave met her. Stephen and Dave travelled from Northern Ireland down to the south and lived with Johnny and that's when they met June.

[Spud]

Ah, yes, you're right. On page 5 it says that Stonebridge (where Johnny lived) was "an hour south of Dublin" and on page 100 it says: "Why had they even bothered with 'a new life' in England?", so they must have moved there at some stage.

I don't remember reading about them moving to England though (besides that sentence). Do you reckon that part was edited out?

[erinbella]

It was Dave's idea to go to England to make a fresh start. Dave promised June that he would stop drinking if she agreed to move to England. He didn't stop drinking and so she was wondering why they even bothered. (Page 100)

I can see how you were getting confused about the houses. From what I could work out Dave, June and Mattie lived at the council estate house in Ireland from when Mattie was a baby until he was five. So sometime after that they moved to England and returned to Ireland when Mattie was nine.

Yeah, I would have liked to have known a bit more about the move to England.

[Trilly]

D recently talked about his motivation for writing this novel as being an exploration of absent fathering, and how a flawed, imperfect father affects his child. This encapsulates the main theme very well. D has absolutely told an affecting, emotional tale.

It's a pity, I think, that the novel appears to be so heavily edited. Details are missing that would have rounded out the story more satisfactorily for many of us. I suppose the main reason the red pen was used was to keep the narrative tight and the timeline intact. It hasn't always worked in the best interests of the reader, however.

Hopefully, in D's new novel, (which he has described as "a saga") on which he is currently working , the editors will see fit to include much of the descriptive scene-setting, back-story and consequences to the characters that we are all craving!