The double-edged sword of the close-knit community of the fictional country town of Ballyrowan is that it is both beautiful and utterly debilitating. The things that bring the community together over these decades are also what tear it apart. The secrets, resentments, love, and anger are all-consuming and impossible to untangle. Continue reading
Tag Archives: feminist authors
Complicated families and letting go: a review of Sarah Haywood’s “The Cactus”
The Cactus is the debut novel from Sarah Haywood which is about letting go of who people want you to be and who you have made yourself become because of your past experiences. It is about family conflict, death, grief, secrets, and forgiveness. It is not your typical contemporary fiction novel for all the right … Continue reading