HT reviewer Saurabh Sharma picks their favourite read of 2025
Unlike any other story of emotional abuse within a marriage, this novel is about sensing — and finally tasting — freedom
Nesting by Irish author Roisín O’Donnell, which was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction this year, may seem to be about Ciara Fay’s unsettling marital relationship but it is also about Chase’s story of liberation. Unlike any other story of emotional abuse within a marriage, Nesting is about sensing — and finally tasting — freedom.
Ciara Fay (née Devine), a mother of two girls — Sophie (4) and Ella (2), feels trapped in her marriage with Ryan-Patrick, someone who had swept her off her feet when they first met. He appears to be a kind, decent husband, but Ciara perhaps knows who he really is.
Can she share what she feels with her sister or mother? When she isn’t allowed to have her friends over, if there are any, can she express her situation to them? In fact, what is her situation when she isn’t able to grasp it herself? In what language can she express that she doesn’t feel safe? Nesting really starts at this juncture. At the same time, it would also be fitting to say that Nesting begins when Ciara reaches an inflexion point, the occasion when she learns fully the consequences of not acting.
Understanding the uncertainty of leaving Ryan, she experiences something that she had no realisation of — that in a heteropatriarchal world, men rule. What follows is unexpected and readers learn about “the hotelisation of the housing crisis” in Ireland. O’Donnell takes this from Melanie Nowicki’s work, but what research papers or academic books fail to capture, fiction illuminates — the emotional truth of a story, and its intensity seldom wavers in this 384-page debut novel.
Though words fail to come to Ciara, it’s perhaps O’Donnell’s tangential recommendation that one — despite all odds — reach out and communicate regardless. One’s expression may be half-baked, but help can arrive in miraculous ways, and when it does — irrespective of the time it takes — it is worth it, for it’s a pity not to live the best version of yourself, no matter what society commands you to do.
Saurabh Sharma is a Delhi-based writer and freelance journalist. They can be found on Instagram/X: @writerly_life.