In the beginning of Hungry Hill, by Eileen Patricia Curran, Great-Aunt Maggie calls Grace and asks her to some home to Springfield, MA, and help out for a while. They both know the state of Maggie’s health and they know that “for a while” actually means until Maggie dies or is completely unable to live at home any more, without actually saying that. Grace, recently widowed with nothing much holding her in Connecticut, arrives with her dogs almost immediately. They haven’t been especially close recently, so it takes some effort for Maggie to reach out, but Maggie and Grace quickly reestablish the special friendship they had when Grace was a little girl.
Hungry Hill is wonderfully New England-y, with constant little wealthy Connecticut jabs at working-class Mass. (So many people in New England grew up in a small mill town and now drop their new, upscale address every chance they get, and I felt like Grace was a real person who’d have jumped into those conversations.)
Grace is irreverent and mouthy, but the novel drags when every single person Grace meets also has a smart mouth. It’s funny at first, but soon starts to feel like every single person in the novel is doing a bit. Surely someone in the greater Springfield area speaks directly? Isn’t there a minor character who could be confused or annoyed by the constant snappy comebacks? This is definitely Grace’s personality, but she doesn’t feel like a clever standout.
The romance storyline is a bit flat, but I think that’s ok that Matt seemed a bit underdeveloped because the story is more about Grace deciding there’s life after her beloved husband’s death than about whether Matt is the person she’s going to stay with. He’s handsome, with instant chemistry, and the inevitable snappy dialogue with Grace. The important part is that Grace lets herself connect with someone else — that connection with others really is the heart of the story.
The main story in Hungry Hill, about Maggie’s illness and Grace’s healing, stays strong. Grace is able to help Maggie in her illness and at the end of Maggie’s life, and both women have to accept this part of the journey. Just as Maggie had to admit weakness and accept help in her illness, Grace also has to admit weakness in her grief. At the end of her life, Maggie is surrounded by friends, neighbors, relatives, her priest and others from her church, just a wide community of affection, even though she never married or had children. This is, overall, a novel about the strength found in choosing community and connection in adversity, instead of isolating ourselves, even when that seems easier.
I received a review copy of this novel through Bookstagrammers. Thank you! All thoughts and opinions are my own, as always.