Review of The Quiet Whispers Never Stop: Passion, troubles and war in 1994

The Quiet Whispers Never Stop by Olivia Fitzsimons

Author Olivia Fitzsimons

The Quiet Whispers Never Stop by Olivia Fitzsimons

Author Olivia Fitzsimons

Estelle Birdy

April 24 2022 02:30 AM

The Quiet Whispers Never Stop Olivia Fitzsimons John Murray, €19.99

The year 1994 was a very big one. Oasis, Blur, Suede and the Cranberries filled our ears. Kurt Cobain exited violently in April. That May in Dublin, Ireland won the Eurovision for the sixth time, Riverdance was unleashed on the world and overnight – Flatley notwithstanding – Irish dancing became cool. At the World Cup, on June 18, a miracle happened when the boys in green beat Italy in the US.

That same night, loyalist gunmen entered the Heights Bar in the tiny Co Down village of Loughinisland, sprayed the small crowd with bullets, leaving six people dead and five more injured. In August, the IRA and shortly thereafter, the loyalists declared a ceasefire. It didn’t hold but that summer is considered by many to be the beginning of the end of the Troubles.

It is against that incredible backdrop of 1994 that Olivia Fitzsimons has set her passionate, music- and culture-filled debut novel. The story opens with 17-year-old Sam, “such a difficult girl”, fatefully spotting the broodingly handsome Naoise in the centre of their small Northern Irish town.

More than a decade older than Sam, Naoise is a complicated and dangerous character who might just provide the escape from the claustrophobic world of 1990s Ulster that Sam so desires.

The Quiet Whispers Never Stop by Olivia Fitzsimons

We flip back to 1982 and Sam’s father Patsy, a farmer, returns home to find a note telling him that his wife Nuala has left their family. “Everybody knew Fionnuala was a highly strung woman but Patsy loved her. Always did, always would.”

Hemmed in by rural life and the constraints of motherhood, Nuala is a woman of big desires who embarks on a short-lived affair with a teenage paperboy and has other dalliances in darkened cinemas with unnamed strangers, before disappearing forever from her family’s life.

Although she hardly knew her mother, Sam can’t escape her family history as she explores all the good things of late teenhood – music, drugs and sex – along with her close friend Becca.

The Troubles are deftly interwoven into this warm, earthy and often humorous coming-of-age tale. Sam compares her upcoming mock A-Levels to the laughable situation of Sinn Féin politicians being dubbed on TV. “Her whole life is a mock. A cock-up. A practice run. Like faux Gerry Adams on the telly. Everyone and their ma knew Gerry was dubbed when he came on the BBC – the slight delay as he spoke, his mouth and words in minor disagreement. Unreal.”

Moving back and forth from 1994 to the early 1980s, this is an exceptional debut with vibrant female characters. The reality of motherhood, female friendships and women’s sexuality anchor the story as both mother and daughter explore what freedom and empowerment really mean.

Fitzsimons is an incredibly skilful writer who infuses every scene with depth of feeling and authenticity so the reader is immersed and emotionally invested in the lives of the characters. Warm, funny and sad, this is a touching and darkly beautiful book.