Review of Kathryn Keane, “The Last Wake,” Luna Station Quarterly 51 (2022): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Content note: Death of a parent.
Paul’s mother has died and he has returned to the house that now belongs to his sister Margaret, and every intimate scene that the reader sees is one filled with all the love and dysfunctionality of a small-town Irish family — right up until the point that Paul gets talking with a self-described “bit of a blow-in” and the bit of me that always reads stories waiting for the speculative twist perks up. And I was right: Bridie McCafferty is everything this story needs to turn it from mundane to fantastical. It was a slow, subtle twist, but fine and bittersweet and just a little bit happy.
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