The McNally Jackson bookstore in Seaport was transformed into an intimate literary venue on Feb. 6 to celebrate the North American release of Megan Nolan’s “Ordinary Human Failings.” The sophomore novel from the 33-year-old Irish author is a violent crime story following a 10-year-old girl suspected of murder and the secrets that her family must confront about their past. It is set between the author’s hometown of County Waterford in Ireland and London while providing a meditation on autonomy and the cyclical nature of trauma.
The event saw the upstairs sale’s floor converted into an informal auditorium with dozens of collapsable chairs and two microphones set up for an author talkback. Attendees arrived promptly with freshly purchased books in hand. Familiar bookshelves and couches had been pushed to the perimeters of the room to make space for the conversation between Nolan and Kyle Dillon Hertz, a fellow writer known for his own novel, “The Lookback Window.”
An air of excitement and support was present amongst the room when Nolan arrived wearing thick black framed glasses and a frilly party dress. Introductions were made including a surprising announcement that the Irish author would be moving to Brooklyn this year which earned applause from the crowd. She confidently but casually addressed her audience and began the evening by reading an excerpt from her work about the character Carmel, an ambitious young woman faced with an unexpected pregnancy.
The fragment illustrated the lack of control that women have over their own bodies without access to birth control or abortion rights. She described the horrors of unwanted pregnancy in Ireland during the ‘70s and offered a personal anecdote about her mother, an abortion rights activist during the time period. When asked about Carmel’s feelings towards the pregnancy, Nolan explained that the character’s disregard and avoidance of the pregnancy was the only expression of autonomy offered to Irish women at the time.
As the evening progressed, Hertz continued to ask questions surrounding other themes of the book including manipulation, prejudice, and generational traumas as well as posing questions about her research and writing process. The Irish author said that she didn’t have to do too much research about her hometown setting but would frequently call her father to confirm facts about Waterford in the ‘70s. She had begun writing the novel during the 2020 coronavirus lockdown and said she was initially inspired by the idea of violence between children and the factors that lead to it.
It was evident to the crowd that there was a sense of camaraderie between the authors onstage. Earlier in the evening it had been revealed that just months ago the two had been in the same configuration but in opposite places, Nolan had been the questioner and Hertz the answerer. The questions and comments made by Hertz were intelligent and thoughtful allowing Nolan to cover large and varying territory with her answers. She offered personal experiences, Irish history, and her wide knowledge of true crime novels to give the audience an understanding of the importance of writing this novel for her.
After the formal Q&A the conversation was opened to audience questions. There were people who had been fans of Nolan’s first novel “Acts of Desperation” and some who had never read her but were curious about the event. By this point in the evening the conversation had garnered so much attention that a huddle of people stood in the corner of the room just to listen. After responding to a few of the audience questions Nolan posed for a few photos then made her way to the back of the room to sign books. The line wrapped around the upstairs of the bookstore but Nolan made sure to give each person time and offered thanks as she signed their novels.
“Ordinary Human Failings” along with Nolan’s other works can be purchased online or in retail bookstores as of Feb. 6. Other literary events hosted at McNally Jackson can be found online under the “Events” section.
