Starlight and Moonshine

In O’Malley’s brilliant debut, a wife and mother’s death after driving drunk shatters her family’s placid surface in 1980 Detroit, laying bare their personality ticks and the rifts that formed over their lifetimes. The novel begins in the accident’s aftermath, as O’Malley toggles between the perspectives of the late Hannah Fallon’s family members, including her son, Jack, a recent high-school graduate; her daughters Colleen and Mary, both in their early 20s; her husband, James, once a dedicated father; and Addy, his busybody sister. Each chapter helps unravel the complexities of a seemingly ordinary family: from Hannah’s longtime heavy drinking to the ways in which Addy encourages Jack to embody an idealized form of masculinity that doesn’t fit him. Colleen and Mary cope with their mother’s death by overeating and engaging in meaningless sex, respectively, while James retreats into books, reading the novels that Hannah filled with marginalia during her postpartum depression years earlier. O’Malley toggles between the perspectives of each family member, shining light on what they know about one another and themselves while also illuminating their blind spots. It’s an exemplary domestic drama. (Sept.)