Book Review: "Our London Lives" by Christine Dwyer Hickey

Have you ever gone to the library and gone: yeah I'm just going to pick up this giant book because I know exactly when I'm going to read it. Well, that's exactly what I did. Our London Lives is an immersive experience of time and love over the big city. More than often, I think that there are modern writers (especially in the 21st century) that can't really capture the essence of London. However, Christine Dwyer Hickey seems to do it perfectly. There's an atmosphere that is almost unforgettable and a writing style that is constantly tinged with longing. I wasn't surprised I liked this one: it has human connection over the course of forty years intermixed with the changing landscape and lives of the characters. It was beautiful.

In 1979, Milly arrives in London from Ireland - she barely has anything or anyone. She secures a job at the Faringdon pub, a bustling establishment frequented by locals, city workers, and boxers from a nearby gym. Milly quickly adapts to her new environment, becoming a quiet favourite among the customers. She becomes slightly more unstable as her job is disrupted by a visit to a place which is very 1970s and I'm not going to reveal what that is because it will ruin part of the story. Milly is possibly one of those characters that reminds us of the less glamorous side of the 1970s. Yes, it was all about glam rock as depicted in movies like Velvet Goldmine. But there is another side as well. Milly is that other side.

In 2017, Pip is an Irish boxer who has recently been released from rehab and he lives with his brother who is a musician. There's a lot of regret that he holds close, especially those concerning the way he has lived his life up until this point. His life intertwines with Milly's as they meet and pass each other over the forty years of which the story takes place. Despite leading separate lives, their thoughts often drift toward each other, then they drift apart again. The author makes these a mixture of missed opportunities and unspoken connections. Honestly, this is a beautiful way of telling the story, both characters are just so interesting and the narrative is so immersive. The author has clearly done a wonderful job of making the book as compelling as possible by balancing it on the lives and interactions of her main characters.

Now I'm going to talk about atmosphere and no I won't shut up about it. One of the components of the book that was the most enjoyable for me is not only that you could practically breathe in the atmosphere, but that you could also inhale the way in which London changes over the course of the years 1979 to 2017. From gentrification to the IRA, all the way down to the horrific Grenfell Tower Fire - London is a city of great riches but also great terrors and the author doesn't hold back in depicting it that way. There's really no romanticisation of the city and it makes it more compelling yes, but also more real. Having been to London many times, I have personally never understood the fascination with the city apart from its history. But I have to admit, the author does a great job of making London understood as a character, not just as a tourist attraction or a city populated and/or visited by people.

We also see aspects of the Irish experience in London. I've constantly thought about this when thinking about the 1970s because it must have been a very difficult time to be Irish let alone an Irish person in London. The characters often reflect these difficulties in forming communities and connections all the way to their issues with unfamiliarity and dislocation. Again, the immersive experience the author creates allows the reader to gain access to the deepest most inner thoughts of these characters so we can better understand this experience and become more connected with the characters.

All in all, I thought this book was simply fantastic. It really is (though it is a long one) an immersive experience of literature. I'm not saying it's too long but if you want to read this book, I wouldn't recommend exiting it too often to carry on with real life. Find the time to breathe it in. You won't regret it.

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