"Resentment grew in quiet agony as discontentment erupted through your spiteful sting of verbal abuse." (Helena White)

Roisin O'Donnell takes on the jagged subject of verbal abuse in her stellar novel, Nesting. The telling is raw and it goes deep into the crevices of a woman's soul. There are unspeakable crimes that visit upon individuals in relationships that should weigh heavy upon us all. Day in and day out of belittling and wearing away of the human spirit......until it erupts and footsteps finally find a path.

Ciara Fay has been married for five years to Ryan. It was blissful in the very beginning. Then slowly, the abuser finds his targeted spot and chisels away chip by chip weakening the very foundation. Ciara wished to become the smallest of stones.......hiddened and concealed. But Ryan, ever the controller, found joy and satisfaction in digging in with his talons.

But out of nowhere, Ciara gained the feathers of flight. It was the sweet voices of her young daughters that propelled her out of house and home that day. She grabbed clothes off the clothes line and thrust them into plastic bags. There was no definitive plan.......just get out before he comes home from work.

Absolute terror put one foot in front of the other. Ciara had no place to go and they slept in her car that night. And here Roisin O'Donnell reveals the nightmare facing individuals as they flee from abuse and suffocating relationships. At stake are the children caught in this tug-of-war. We'll watch as Ryan emerges with feigned heartbreak replaced with his usual veonomous demeanor.

At the core of Nesting is simply survival. And in striving for that, we experience the downward spiral of Ciara trying to protect herself and her children. Doors slammed loudly with a housing shortage in Ireland. Daily food and gas were not optional. Money flew from her pocket.

And to those who chorus: "Just get out and leave him". We'll walk in Ciara's shoes with a heavy heart. Not so easy. Not so easy. And as a society, we can do far better. Far better.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to Algonquin Books and to the talented Roisin O'Donnell for the opportunity.

4.5 stars
On a spring afternoon in Dublin in 2018, Ciara Fay makes a split-second decision to grab a few belongings, strap her two young daughters aged 4 and 2 into the car and leave her emotionally abusive husband. Over five years of marriage, Ryan has prevented Ciara from working, isolated her from friends and family, belittled her and gaslit her into thinking she's the problem. With no access to funds and no support network in Dublin, she tries to fly to her mother and sister in England but is stopped at the airport and prevented from leaving the country without Ryan's permission. Ciara has no choice but to seek emergency accommodation and the only place available is at a hotel that sets aside one floor for unhoused families. Over the following months, Ciara finds herself caught up in a seemingly endless loop of bureaucratic red tape and unable to find suitable housing in a tight rental market while Ryan wages a campaign to convince her that returning home is the right thing to do.

Nesting is a suspenseful and propulsive pageturner and I could not put it down - mostly because I had myself tied up in knots worrying about how it would all play out. The odds are stacked against Ciara as she struggles to escape Ryan and keep herself and her children safe and I was rooting for her to find the strength to stay away for good while also angry and frustrated with the court system and the bureaucracy that was letting her down. The author does an excellent job at conveying the impact of emotional abuse and gaslighting on Ciara and how hard it can be to explain to those who don't have firsthand experience while also highlighting societal issues exacerbated by Ireland's housing crisis.

Nesting is a well-written and compassionate debut about the harsh realities facing women in this situation. It's a realistic story of intimate partner abuse and it's not an easy read but it's also a moving and hopeful story of resilience, courage and starting over.

Thank you to NetGalley and Algonquin Books for sending a digital ARC of this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

This was a tense read. The combination of urgency to escape and toddler demands made me very stressed! I can’t imagine what it must be like to live with a man that makes you feel unsafe. This book gave some insight into the despondency, confusion and fear. This was well written.
Thank you Netgalley for the ARC.

Roisin O'Donnell depicts the painful experience of coercive control and the insidious secrecy surrounding family life. The undermining of confidence and ultimate decision to take action, with the consequences thereof, are starkly detailed. The book provides an amazing insight into the bureaucracy surrounding family breakdown.
Highly recommended

This book is so well done, it's almost too difficult to read. Harrowing is the only word. Ciara is an incredible hero and it's impossible to read this book and not respect any person thrust into a situation like this one. It builds tremendous empathy, but it also reads almost like a thriller, as you absolutely need to know how it's all going to turn out.

3+ rounded to 4 stars

“People on a merry-go-round. From a distance they looked happy. It was only when you looked closer that you could tell they were screaming.”

New colorful posters in my small town doctor’s office read,“Do you have enough to eat…do you feel safe at home” and prompt my concerning thoughts about those who do not have such protections available. I carry a worry about how marginalized parts of our population cope with surviving day to day and this novel contains some difficult scenes and may raise a number of thought provoking questions. Nesting is a work of fiction, however we all know the experience the author has researched is anything but.

Ciara and her two young daughters flee an abusive husband as she is finding out she is pregnant yet again. At the mercy of a broken social assistance system, we travel through a heartbreaking reality of survival under extreme circumstances. The main character, who had left the home in which she was raised in Sheffield, England, traveled the world with a healthy wanderlust, has somehow wound up in Dublin, Ireland, in a marriage where the gaslighting is in the red zone. Now trapped between the reality of the tenuous home she has been holding onto and the impossibility of creating a new one, metaphors about nesting and birds are appropriate but perhaps over used. I received the themes as important yet extremely dark, so please know how you might respond to the frustration and fear of a vicious abuse cycle all too many around the globe face every single day.

Thank you Net Galley and Algonquin Books for the early copy in exchange for my honest review.

When Ciara Fay leaves her husband Ryan, it doesn't seem like she knows exactly what is wrong, but she knows -- and the foreboding tone of the book makes sure the reader knows -- that she needs to get out and stay out. The entire book is spent watching Ciara figure out how to name the abuse and get out from under his thumb. It moves slowly -- sometimes in mere millimeters, it seems. But it read so fast because you want to see her and her children freed. This is a book that I'm going to be thinking about and recommending for a long time.

An intimate, intense, unflinching account of one mother’s year+ escaping her emotionally abusive marriage, living in a hotel while searching for employment and a new home, and navigating the social services available to her. The secondary characters are a real highlight of the story - it was beautiful to watch Ciara’s world and chosen family expand.

Content warning for houselessness and emotional abuse. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book. I learned so much from it.

Roisin O’Donnell’s debut novel, “Nesting” is a powerful portrayal of the horrors of domestic violence and the general inadequacy of available support system resources.

Family domestic abuse is something that is rarely discussed in polite society, but it is pervasive. Physical assault is occasionally documented, especially when it results in disfigurement or murder. Psychological abuse, though even more widespread and difficult to manage, is rarely addressed.

O’Donnell does a masterful job of illuminating the issue. “Nesting” is propulsive, but it wasn’t in any way a quick read. Even though I have years of experience dealing with homelessness, domestic violence, human trafficking, and substance use, I was unable to handle more than one or two segments before needing to take a break. It is all too real. “Nesting” is compelling and disturbing, visceral and disquieting. There are often moments when you want to shout out loud when our protagonist, Ciara, is on the verge of making a decision. It is all so hard. So sad.

“Nesting” is, in a word, stunning. But readers beware. The topics covered are highly disturbing and likely to linger. Shout out to all victims, families, and caregivers who are doing their best to help each family, one at a time.

Thank you to Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill and NetGalley for the eARC.

Hands down one of the best written books that I read in 2024. The writing was wonderful. The author made you feel as though you experienced every moment along with the protagonist. A deftly written story illustrating that abuse needs to be not be only physical. An evocative drama imbued with hope for women everywhere who try to escape abusive situations and the difficulties faced when they try to right their lives and their childrens’s lives.

3.5 rounded up

A solid novel about surviving domestic violence, though the quickness and patness of the story takes away from the narrative. Yes, Ciara struggles, but everything seems to just click into place for her after a certain point. Maybe this wouldn't be so glaring if it weren't for the side characters who still are in the same place as Ciara moves forward. With not exploration of why this might be, Ciara's rebuilt life feels less earned.

I liked the intense focus on Ciara, without trying to make Ryan at all sympathetic.

The bird metaphor went a little too far for me.

Honestly, my favorite parts of the book were the descriptions of place and of being homesick.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advance copy.

A phenomenal piece of writing. Great pacing...from the early sense of unease to frantic flight, desperate search for housing, stasis/frustration, emerging friendships, sense of hope, return of fear, escalation, physical unclenching and oh that ending. O'Donnell evokes a real sense of understanding and compassion for women trying to find their way out of desperate and dangerous relationships. At the same time, she has created a singular character in Ciara, never allowing her to become just an amalgam of case studies. Beautiful cover art is a perfect representation of the novel's central theme. Thank you to #NetGalley and #Hachette for this early read of #Nesting.

What a stunning heartbreaking debut. As people may know, I am obsessed with Ireland and will read almost any book if it is set there. I wasn't expecting to be so moved by this story, the characters all felt so multidimensional and real and raw. You can read the plot summary for a general idea of the story and triggers, but I highly recommend reading this one.

Thank you so much to the publishers and netgalley for the e-arc.

This book gives a great picture of not only how hard it is to leave an abusive marriage but how much harder it is to stay gone. Ciara faces impossible odds to start her life over with her daughters. This book felt very real and raw. It’s a slow burn until the end. It shines a very necessary light on domestic violence.

Thanks to Algonquin Books and NetGalley for this ARC of Roisín O'Donnell's 'Nesting.'

As per the description of this novel, we're presented with Ciara, a 30-something newly pregnant mother of three- and five-year-old (ish) daughters who after five years of emotional and psychological abuse and coercion decides, mid-laundry, to take her children and escape.

What follows is a tension filled and suspense-building account of what happens many women in that situation. She's escaping into a Dublin city that's left her behind in many ways - there's not much accommodation available and what is is overpriced and unwelcoming of women in her 'situation.' She finds herself on the welfare floor of a hotel on Dublin's north quays where she's not allowed to use the lift or be in the lobby, subsisting on carvery food, fast food, and sneakily prepared rice cooker noodles in the room she shares with her children from where she's left - largely alone - to figure out how to protect herself and her family and move on from the terror of her marriage.

She's faced with well-meaning but largely unhelpful state employees in the glacial social services and housing bureaucracy and with the coldness of the family court system. Her family is very supportive but living in England or Northern Ireland so she's very much alone but does develop a strong bond with one of her hotel-mates as well as a Brazilian gig worker who double jobs at the hotel.

Ryan (or Ryan-Patrick to his doting and oblivious mother) is a controlling menace who presents as the perfect husband. His carefully wrought campaign of seeming love and devotion and efforts to reunite his family are very sinister and very believable, especially of 'official Ireland.' Throughout most of the book (and reflected in the cover design) runs the theme of a bird that he's 'saved' and the analogy with Ciara is unavoidable and unmistakable - a tethered and abused bird, kept for amusement and control, but which on the surface seems like the caring and altruistic act of a fine man.

The tension in the writing and the pacing of the book really is a physical and stomach-twisting force. I had to put the book down repeatedly for fear of what was coming and you have to imagine that it's but a tiny fraction of the stress and terror that many women worldwide experience for real.

It's hard to go deeper with this review for fear of spoilers but at the same time it's not hard to imagine some of the events that occur throughout. It's the realness and compelling nature of the writing that keeps this book from being a straightforward documentary relating of the life of the abused woman and family in Ireland today.

Congratulations to the author and the publisher, I hope this is a huge success.