By Louise Le Nay
Publisher: Text Publishing, 2024
Publisher’s blurb
Marnie is sixty-three and downwardly mobile. Her middle-class marriage is long gone, her only child more or less estranged. She’s living in a granny flat behind a stranger’s house.
Still, things could be worse. She likes her new boss, Trinh, and her flat has a leadlight window depicting a galleon in full sail. Also, her daughter Lenny has just brought Marnie’s adored grandchildren to stay.
She’s also brought her repellent boyfriend and raging drug habit, so nothing new there. But this time it’s different. This time Marnie can see with absolute clarity the danger the children are in.
And this time—she’s going to do something about it.
This is the revelatory story of an ordinary woman who will let nothing, not even the law, stand in the way of her grandchildren’s safety. Simply, elegantly told and utterly compelling, Edenhope is an adventure for those who believe adventure can come from anywhere. And it is a love story for those who understand that love can be found everywhere.
Review
by Jennifer Cameron-Smith
What would you do in Marnie Odell’ s shoes? She’s 63 years old and is reestablishing herself after a failed marriage. Marnie has obtained a part-time job at Treen’s Bargain Variety Store and found a small garden flat nearby in suburban Melbourne. Small steps towards a better, independent life. But the reappearance of her daughter Eleanor (Lenny) with her two small children Frankie and Koa, and boyfriend Brayden turns Marnie’s life upside down. Lenny and Brayden are addicts and responsible parenting is not high on their agenda.
What would you do in Marnie O’Dell’s shoes? After a couple of days, Marnie cannot ignore the danger she sees the children are in. She takes Frankie and Koa and heads into country Victoria. It is not easy: with little money and no clear destination in mind, Marnie does her best to look after Frankie and Koa even when they are all reduced to sleeping in her car.
This is a story about the impacts of addiction on family, about trying to negotiate the shoals of parenting across two generations. Marnie is caught between her care for her daughter, who is dishonest and disrespectful, and her knowledge that the children are not safe with Lenny and Brayden.
I am older than Marnie and have not personally had to face the issues she is dealing with. But I know others who have. I know of grandparents who parent their grandchildren because their own children are incapable, unable, or unwilling. I’ve seen cases where people get lost in the bureaucracy of child protection and financial support, and cases where the law makes a bad situation worse. I’m also aware of the kindness of individuals and the work of (some) dedicated charities giving people a hand up rather than a handout.
Once I picked this novel up, I had to keep reading to see how it would end. Ms Le Nay tackles issues of addiction, homelessness, and neglect with sensitivity. Marnie’s situation is not unique, unfortunately. I felt sorry for Marnie, and for her grandchildren. And yes, I felt some intermittent sympathy for Lenny, in the thralls of addiction.
I finished the story, wishing that the situations Ms Le Nay describes were solely confined to fiction. I finished, hoping for a better, brighter future for Marnie, Frankie, and Koa.