Foolish Mortals by Jennifer Johnston – Review

Foolish Mortals by Jennifer Johnston

Henry O’Connor wakes up in hospital badly injured after a car accident and suffering from partial amnesia. His first wife Stephanie is by his side, as are their children, from whom he has been estranged since his divorce. Tentatively, his daughter Ciara begins to try to get to know him again, but in keeping with the Shakespearean theme hinted in the title, all is not what it seems. Replete with cross-dressing twins, undisclosed homosexuality and a tyrannical matriarch, all that’s missing from Johnston’s cast is a singing Fool in the final act. It’s a neatly crafted tale and Johnson is perceptive about the tensions in the new upper-middle-class Dublin society, but her characters fail to convince, their sentiment often cliched or melodramatic.

Review: Foolish Mortals by Jennifer Johnston | Books | The Observer.