It’s this same disarming, almost goofy combination of vulnerability, self-doubt and canny shrewdness that distinguish-es her books, first her 1998 best-selling memoir, “Are You Somebody?” and now this novel. Both books feature middle-aged women as their protagonists. And both are full of brilliant writing and heartbreaking insight. When Kathleen, the narrating heroine of “My Dream of You,” hits bottom after failing to find support from friends, family or lovers, she exclaims, “I am motherless in every direction.”
Even as she keeps a close eye on what her hairdresser’s up to (She: “You made it red!” He: “Just some gold highlights.” She: “You should tell people these things!”), O’Faolain explains her reasons for writing “My Dream of You.” “I wanted to write a popular novel,” she says, “a novel that a lot of women would read. A romance, but not a romance novel. I can’t read those.”
“My Dream of You” is actually two novels: O’Faolain’s protagonist, Kathleen, a travel writer with about a dozen midlife crises, is also writing a novel, about a 19th-century Irish divorce case that took place during the potato famine. The divorce case is a true story, complete with charges that the Anglo-Irish lady of the manor committed adultery with a groom. But what intrigues O’Faolain is how everything from famine to adultery is hushed up in Ireland. “I believe it’s somehow linked to the savagery of Irish domestic relationships, the cruelty to children, to women and to the poor.”
Because she is so eager to break the silence that shrouds so many emotional issues–not just in Ireland but everywhere–a lot of what O’Faolain writes just sounds like one big blurt of feelings, feelings, feelings. But every time you’re about to bail because Kathleen is driving you nuts, you have to stop and remind yourself that O’Faolain made this woman up–and did such a brilliant job that you’re convinced she’s real.
Unlike all but the best writers, O’Faolain isn’t afraid to write about a character as smart and complicated as she is. Well, almost. A wildly successful late bloomer–the critically lauded “Are You Somebody?” sold 300,000 copies in the United States–O’Faolain proves as undeterred by success as her heroine is by failure. “Ireland isn’t a country for believing in yourself, not if you’re a woman, not if you’re my age,” she insists. But she’s happy with her success, right? “I can’t believe it,” she says with a tiny grin, " ‘cause it’s not sad enough." At least she liked her new hairdo.
