Wilf Healy is 80 years young and lives in the tiny wheatbelt town of Selwyn. Wilf – understandably – wants to retire, but he works multiple jobs and those employing him say they couldn’t survive without him. He works at (and lives in) Monk’s Irish pub, delivers medicines for the local pharmacist, picks and delivers vegetables and, most importantly for the narrative, drives the school bus. He’s lived in Selwyn for most of his life, after moving there from Louth, a small island offshore. Wilf’s niece, Orla, lives in Selwyn with her son, Connor. Wilf has no other family there. The loss of his wife and son are hinted at, and his one surviving brother, Colin, left for LA years ago.
Orla is seriously ill. Connor refuses to face his mother’s decline, retreating into his music: he’s a songwriting guitarist and dreams of record deals. Colin returns from America in a stranger-comes-to-town narrative device, contrasting his life’s journey with Wilf’s. The kids on Wilf’s bus range from the incommunicative and weird to the menacingly vindictive. The latter’s fabricated story of physical abuse disrupts Wilf’s life and is the major turning point in the narrative. Connor is unmoored but is the only one who can save his uncle.
Orr’s writing is masterful. His characters are three-dimensional, with flaws aplenty. The Healy family refer to each other as ‘Brother’, ‘Uncle’, ‘Niece’, etc. This seems impersonal at face value, but in Orr’s hands it feels like familial love. The dialogue is rapid-fire and filled with subtle humour. Selwyn has the entirety of human behaviours in its tiny environs.
This is a wonderful book, dealing with intergenerational friction, nostalgia, loss, love and endurance.
Reviewed by Bob Moore
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