On a bright spring afternoon, Ciara Fay makes a split-second decision that will change everything. Grabbing an armful of clothes off the clothesline, she straps her two young daughters into her car and drives away. Head spinning, all she knows for certain is that home is no longer safe—and that this time, when she leaves, she must stay away.
On the surface, she has a perfect life: her sometimes kind and attentive husband, Ryan, is a good provider from a nice family, and they have another baby on the way. But he also monitors Ciara’s every move, flies into unpredictable rages where he convinces her she can do nothing right, and has isolated her from work, friends, and her beloved family.
Was fleeing the right thing to do? With no job and no support, Ciara struggles to provide a sense of normalcy for her little girls. Facing a broken housing system, they move into a hotel room on a floor reserved for women like her, eating takeout, washing their clothes in the bathroom sink, and building a community with the other residents. Ryan, meanwhile, wages a relentless campaign to win her back, and Ciara wavers. He never hit her, after all, and don’t the girls need a stable home?
Suspenseful and all-consuming, Roisín O’Donnell’s extraordinary debut creates a devastating portrait of gaslighting and emotional abuse. Ultimately, Nesting is a triumphant story about self-determination, family, and resilience.
Book Info: Print length: 399 pages. Publisher: Scribner UK. Publication date: 30 Jan 2025. Listening time: 10 hours and 11 minutes. Narrator: Louisa Harland.
My Thoughts.
GRAB YOUR TISSUES because you are going to need them once you’ve finished this beautifully narrated tale about one woman trying to leave her marriage and start over.
I listened to this book via Audible and honestly, I didn’t want it to stop. My poor dog was dragged around the fields for hours at a time as I fell in love with Ciara and NEEDED to know she and her young family were going to be OK.
Nesting is about domestic abuse including gas-lighting, fear, anxiety, threats, intimidation, emotional and psychological abuse. This is NOT an easy listen/read, so please be aware if these are trigger issues for you.
Whilst there isn’t any graphic or explicit sexual or physical violence portrayed in the story, it’s the slow and relentless dripping of abuse that gives the story the added layer of intensity and makes it feel so real.
The story is set in Dublin and the main character Ciara Fay makes a snap decision to leave her marriage and take her two young daughters away. This isn’t the first time she has tried to escape her husband, but this time she is determined at whatever cost.
Her family are over in the UK, unable to help and without any income or savings she has to rely on the state to provide accommodation in a local hotel along with other families waiting to be get rehomed. The story shows the difficulties of social housing, the complexities of getting on the waiting list and the reality facing so many people.
Witnessing the constant coercive control Ciara is subjected to by her husband, you can’t help by admire her strength and determination to get away and keep her children safe. Despite facing some huge hurdles she doesn’t ever give up.
This is an important story to read/listen to. The message of hope runs throughout the pages and fans of emotional literary fiction that gets under your skin, squeezes your heart and stays in your thoughts long after you’ve finished should love this book.
