He Is Mine and I Have No Other

by Rebecca O'Connor

Shortlisted for the Kate O'Brien Award In 1990s small-town Ireland, fifteen-year-old Lani Devine falls in love with Leon Brady, whose mother is buried in the cemetery next to Lani's house. Quiet and strange, Leon is haunted by a brutal family tragedy that has left scars much more than skin-deep. As Lani falls deeper and deeper in love with him, old wounds begin to reopen and start to change the shape of their lives forever.

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Irish Literature

240 pages, Paperback

Published May 2, 2019

Reviews

[~Madison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow. It didn’t really have a plot, it was a look into a teen girls life. The life of losing friends, getting into romantic relationships, first times, grief and maturity.

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting novel based in Ireland of coming of age and events which are triggered off

[Cait · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've settled on a 2.5. The writing was good and the characters had distinctive voices, especially the main voice of a teenage girl, but ultimately this book felt unfinished. It touched on so many interesting and sensitive plot lines but didn't seem to tie off any loose ends or really tell us why we were seeing them all together. It felt like the end of the book had been cut off.

[Cass Moriarty · Rating 5 out of 5]

This tender and poignant novel set in a small town in Ireland in the 1990’s is a slim, literary wonder. He is Mine and I have No Other (Canongate Books 2018) by Rebecca O’Connor is the story of local 15-year-old Lani Devine who falls in love with the enigmatic Leon Brady, whose mother is buried in the cemetery next to Lani’s house. Filled with the awkward fumbling of adolescence – the unrequited desire, the filching of cigarettes and alcohol, the parental conflict – the narrative is set against the backdrop of a terrible historical tragedy: the legacy of 35 orphaned girls killed in a fire and buried in an unmarked grave near Leon’s mother. Love ignites between Lani and Leon, friction increases between Lani and her best friend Mar, Lani’s parents drop a bombshell that is about to change Lani’s life, she discovers a dark secret about her own family, and then her relationship with Leon begins to fracture as she realises that he too is haunted by a past incident that has left scars possibly too deep to be healed.
This is a coming-of-age story with a dark heart. The interspersion of stories from the orphan girls themselves adds to the melancholy. And the title refers to something completely unexpected which only becomes apparent towards the end of the book.

[Alex Silvie · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting read, looking at 1990s Rural Ireland, girlhood, and family tragedy.

[Chloe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finished this book in one day. A really interesting and emotive read about coming of age in a rural town in Ireland.

[Ronja Smines · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eg ska ikkje lyga, eg hadde faktisk null forventninger til denne bokå då eg først begynte å lese den, for har ikkje sett noen promotere den eller vist den frem på sosiale medier, men det var like så greit egentlig.

Veldig lettlest bok, men fremdeles skrever noe simplere enn andre bøker eg har lest nyligere. Syns ikke det er noe dårlig i det heile tatt, gir noe Sally Rooney vibes te seg, så ikkje ein minus der.

Likevel var det ein merkelig, men samtidig fascinerende historie. Er enkelte hendelser eg enkelte ganger kunne bli litt flau for hovedkarakterens skyld. Men det er tross alt ei bok om ei jente som forelske seg dypt i ein random as fyr, og dermed gjør noen sære handlinger eg personlig ikkje ville gjort eller relatere te, men hei, eg har aldri vært 15 år og dødsforelska i noen.

Sjøl syns eg bokå kunne være betagende til tider, då det var såpass intenst og destruktivt med forelskelsen hu kjente på, og hvordan det er å vær tenåring og savne frihet. Men igjen, litt sånn questionable greier som hendte som fikk meg til å miste litt fotfeste. Samtidig syns eg bokå kunne vært litt lenger faktisk, med litt utdypning i enkelte hendelser (som eg ikkje vil nevne for ofc -spoilers-), men ellers grei.

[Jessie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely ending, it’s just a very realistic kind of school love story.. with underage drinking and sex in a field.
They weaved in there story’s of the orphan girls that died in a tragic fire, that linked to the protagonists grandad father and mother very well. Would love a book just based on that tragedy tbh..

[Caitlin Rebekah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfectly encapsulates teenage girl angst and thoughts. Super nostalgic, reminiscent of “If he Had Been with Me” and “Without Merit” also reminded me of books I read as a teenager! Really really enjoyed this one!

[Karen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not great. No real storyline. Started off well but then just felt lost.

[Just This · Rating 4 out of 5]

short, simple and strange tale of a rural irish teen's obsession with a boy

[Sahil Javed · Rating 1 out of 5]

this was so bizarre, and boring

[Kistal · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5/5 stars.

This would have been so good if it had hundred more pages and fleshed out more. So disappointing

[GenevieveNZ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very strange story, but I enjoyed the writing even though there was no plot

The chapters relating to the wee girls in the homes was incredibly sad.

[Jane Healey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel, set in 1990s small-town Ireland, was a quick read, with pared back prose and a claustrophobic domestic setting. I think the blurb - which promises an intense relationship between two teenagers, Leni and Leon - was a little misleading because while that does form a part of this novel, the majority is actually a compelling portrait of teenage girlhood in all its wild hunger and self-abnegation.

Interspersed with the chapters from Leni’s point of view are heartbreaking fictional diary entries from orphan girls from the local institution who died in a fire before the novel began. There is a family connection to these girls for Leni but their chapters, and the rumours and stories that bubble up in the main narrative, also create a simmering throughline of cultural gendered violence and pain.