The Coast Road

Murrin’s smashing debut follows two unhappily married women in a small town in Ireland as they test the bounds of independence. In 1994, Izzy Keaveney heads to mass after a night spent fighting with her husband, James, over his refusal to support her wish to reopen her flower shop, which she ran until the birth of their first child, who’s now a teen. At church, she encounters poet Colette Crowley, who has recently returned from Dublin and whose husband, Shaun, has banned her from seeing their three sons ever since she had an affair and announced she was leaving him some months earlier. When Colette starts a writing workshop in town, Izzy enrolls, and after class one evening, she agrees to help Colette secretly meet with one of her sons. After Shaun learns what Colette’s up to, he forbids her from making a promised Christmas visit, pleads with James to put a stop to Izzy’s meddling, and intimates to him that Izzy is having an affair with the new parish priest. Heartbroken, Colette drinks heavily and stumbles into an affair with her married landlord, whose wife is pregnant; meanwhile, Izzy considers separating from James. Each of the characters is vividly rendered, and Murrin excels at portraying the rippling consequences of small-town gossip and intolerance. This is a marvel. Agent: Anna Stein, CAA. (June)