Instructions for a Heatwave by Maggie O'Farrell (October 2018)

[Judy]

Susan wrote: "What did everyone think of Aoife's 'secret,' and the way she coped with it?"

I think it feels like a convincing depiction of dyslexia - it would be interesting to hear what anyone with dyslexia thinks? We had a family friend in the 70s who was dyslexic and had been told he was stupid at school, like Aoife is told, but he got a degree with the OU and went on to get a Ph.D.

I'm a bit puzzled by her just putting the contracts in a file and not dealing with them, though - I suspect this would be found out very quickly in real life, by most bosses anyway!

[Val]

I agree with all you say Rosina.
It was designed so that students could study as well as working or looking after children. There are a few tutorials, but not all the group meetings Claire takes part in. She seems to be using the course as a reason, or excuse, for having a busy social life.

[Susan]

I don't think that issues like dyslexia are picked up on well, even now. I work in adult education and have had students with horrendous experiences.

[Jill]

For me , Aoife came to the fore as the best member of this family. All of the rest were very wrapped up in themselves, which made me think it was like a soap opera from the TV. The father took himself without a thought to his family, the mother was more concerned with what other people would think of them and her religion. Monica had no qualms with taking another woman's husband, only to the point where it affected her because the children didn't like her. Michael, had sex with a colleague and treated his wife like a second grade entity . Claire his wife seemed to me to neglect her children ( what was a small child doing playing naked outside in the blazing heat of a heatwave )
So, although Aoife had a disability I could quite understand why she would want to get away from all of them
To me this had Coronation Street or Eastenders throughout.

[Rosina]

I ended up feeling sorry for Aoife, but still felt that she had behaved irresponsibly, potentially risking Evelyn's business by accepting a job she knew she could not perform. And I wondered how she got her passport, and her US visa and Green Card, without being able to fill in forms.

[Judy]

I’ve finished the first day now - up to that point I hadn’t realised it was all taking place over just a few days!

[Jill]

Rosina wrote: "I ended up feeling sorry for Aoife, but still felt that she had behaved irresponsibly, potentially risking Evelyn's business by accepting a job she knew she could not perform. And I wondered how sh..."

I must admit I hadn't thought of the forms for the traveling , I can only think she pulled the eyesight/ glasses trick with the relevant offices. It amazed me that Evelyn never found out about the business .

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

I admit that checks being in the folder surprised me. I think you don't have to be able to read to know what a check looks like, even business checks with supportive stubs.

[Susan]

I felt sorry for all of the family members, at some points, I must admit. The matriarch was alone in England, her own mother in Ireland, and it would have been impossible for her to admit that she had not married. The stigma would have been enormous in those days and I thought the author portrayed the situation well - how people lie to themselves to justify their decisions.

This is the only O'Farrell that I have read, but I would certainly like to read more. Has anyone else any favourites?

[Rosina]

It is as well that Robert had only gone over to Ireland. If he had died, she would not have been entitled to the widow's share of his bank pension.

[Susan]

It's a good job that fiction doesn't need to consider all these pedantic, real life issues, isn't it?

[Jill]

Rosina wrote: "It is as well that Robert had only gone over to Ireland. If he had died, she would not have been entitled to the widow's share of his bank pension."

I suspect the family would have rallied and made sure she was looked after. Monica especially as she did when the mother was pregnant

[Story]

Susan wrote: "This is the only O'Farrell that I have read, but I would certainly like to read more. Has anyone else any favourites?

Susan, I really loved The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox and quite liked I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death

[Susan]

I recall reading about The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennon, Storyheart. I will have a look at both again, thanks.

[Judy]

I would like to read more by her, as I am enjoying this one.

[Susan]

Actually, I forgot that I have also read This Must Be the Place , which I also loved. I would certainly like to read more. Perhaps a future buddy read?

[Rosina]

Susan wrote: "It's a good job that fiction doesn't need to consider all these pedantic, real life issues, isn't it?"

The knowledge that with a full investigation the facts about her non-marriage must come out probably (would have) played a part in her distress at Robert's disappearance. She could really only keep up the pretence while everything continued on a straight path.

When a book is clearly meant to be set in real life, then real-life problems should be considered by the author. She didn't need to have Aoife living and working in the US, but as she did it's reasonable for the reader to ask 'How did she apply for a passport? A visa? A work permit?'

[Val]

Gretta might have had a few problems with documents as well, such as what name and nationality she has on her passport.
I agree with Roisin that these problems should have been considered and avoided.

[Story]

Susan wrote: " I would certainly like to read more. Perhaps a future buddy read?"

I'd be happy to do a buddy read with you of another of her books, Susan. Would you be interested in My Lover's Lover? I'm intrigued by the reference to Rebecca in the blurb; it's an all time fav of mine.

[Rosina]

Val wrote: "Gretta might have had a few problems with documents as well, such as what name and nationality she has on her passport.
I agree with Roisin that these problems should have been considered and avoi..."

The family won't have needed passports to travel to Ireland, so Gretta may never had had to apply for one. Although it's quite legal in the UK to live under a name to which you have no 'legal' entitlement, the Passport Office (British or Irish) would have required a birth certificate and a marriage certificate before making it out in the name of Riordan, or a Deed Poll or some other documentation. Gretta was born in Ireland, I believe, so it would have been an Irish passport, but registration as a British citizen would equally have demanded documentation she couldn't provide.

Aoife would have been entitled to a British passport - it's the writing side that makes that a more interesting dilemma, and one that ought to have been avoided or covered.

Michael Francis (who we know must have a passport) would have had no difficulty since his birth certificate was in the name of Riordan, with Gretta giving her name as Riordan, and no one demands to see the mother's marriage certificate.

[Rosina]

Rosina wrote: "Michael Francis (who we know must have a passport) would have had no difficulty since his birth certificate was in the name of Riordan, with Gretta giving her name as Riordan, and no one demands to see the mother's marriage certificate."

I suppose that if Gretta had not been using the name Riordan, she would have had difficulty in registering Robert as the father. I wonder if women who use their maiden name after marriage have to prove their marriage before getting the father's name included on the child's birth certificate. (For those not familiar, a husband is assumed to be the child's father, but if there is no husband the father has to give his consent to being named.)

[Val]

Travel between the UK and RI does not require a passport, but it does require a document giving proof of identity. Immigration to the US requires more documentation and a lot of form-filling, both of which would have caused problems for Aoife, or at the very least uncovered the secret.
Proof of identity is also required to register a birth, but Robert could have registered the three children as their father and given them his surname, then the registrar is not likely to have inquired any further.
Do we know which surname Monica's step-daughters used? There does not seem to be any stigma attached to them being illegitimate. They are a different generation, but they also live in a village and there would have been gossip.

[Rosina]

Val wrote: "Travel between the UK and RI does not require a passport, but it does require a document giving proof of identity. Immigration to the US requires more documentation and a lot of form-filling, both ..."

No proof of identity was or is needed travelling to the RoI from the UK (that is one of the problems raised by Brexit). We went in 1974 (so close to the time of this book) and our driving licences were examined on leaving (we had taken our own car), but that was for Security rather than simple travel. If we hadn't been driving we wouldn't have been required to show a driving licence, or any other document. We didn't even have that trouble going back in 2016.

[Val]

We haven't been as recently as 2016, but we have been asked for id on past trips.

[Rosina]

Val wrote: "We haven't been as recently as 2016, but we have been asked for id on past trips."

Did you fly? We went by ferry - and although we gave our names when booking, no one checked that we were who we said we were. And no checks at all crossing between Ireland and Northern Ireland.

[Val]

Yes we flew (plus one ferry trip in the early 1990s).

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Can you fly anywhere without ID these days?

[Susan]

My father was Irish, and he never had a passport, so he must have travelled back and forth in the Seventies without one.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

I don't have a passport, although I did at one time because I traveled to Japan in the early 1960s. I don't plan to go anywhere, so it suits me fine. But you cannot travel by air in the US without picture ID.

[Susan]

Travel was expensive when my father was alive. My first son was able to go on my passport, but, by the time my younger two were born, they all had to have their own passports.

[Jan C]

Used to be that we could travel between US and Canada with just a driver's license but now a passport is needed. I had a friend who was in Canada when the law went into effect but didn't have his passport with him because it wasn't in effect when he went. He had to look for a back road which might or might not have one guard on it. He was able to come back okay. He learned his lesson about leaving his passport at home.

So before I can visit my Canadian cousins (my mother was born in America of a Canadian mother) I shall have to get a passport.

[Judy]

I've finished the book now - I really liked it, but I suppose I was expecting to meet Robert at some point and get some explanation of his actions. Perhaps it makes the book even stronger that we are left guessing about his motivation to some extent, though?

[Judy]

In the UK you now need a passport for lots of other things apart from travelling, for instance taking out a bank account or mortgage, or applying for a job. I can't drive, so I'm not sure if people with full driving licences can use them instead for some things, but I have often had to show my passport as ID.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Judy wrote: "In the UK you now need a passport for lots of other things apart from travelling, for instance taking out a bank account or mortgage, or applying for a job. I can't drive, so I'm not sure if people with full driving licences can use them instead for some things, but I have often had to show my passport as ID. "

I haven't had to do any of that for so many years I no longer know what the procedure is. I do know that people here can get picture ID from the same place you get a drivers license.

Jan, the last time we went across the Canadian border was in 2006. We crossed in Montana. That was just before you needed to have a Passport, but we did have to have our birth certificates. The guard didn't like my husband's certificate from the Territory of Alaska and we got a lot of hassle about it (he was born before statehood).

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Judy wrote: "I've finished the book now - I really liked it, but I suppose I was expecting to meet Robert at some point and get some explanation of his actions. Perhaps it makes the book even stronger that we a..."

I didn't know what had happened to Robert. I didn't have enough background to know if he had just walked off for good or what.

[Val]

We do find out where he has gone, but not why he did not tell anyone he was going.

[Susan]

I quite liked the ending and his natural reappearance. It was, throughout the book, as if you knew he would be found and just fit back in.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Val wrote: "We do find out where he has gone, but not why he did not tell anyone he was going."

But we did. It was very clear at the end.

[Rosina]

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Val wrote: "We do find out where he has gone, but not why he did not tell anyone he was going."

But we did. It was very clear at the end."

Why didn't he tell Gretta? It was clear why he couldn't tell the children - another lie, about his brother's death - but Gretta knew the truth, or ought to have known.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Rosina wrote: "but Gretta knew the truth, or ought to have known. "

Why ought to have known?

[Jill]

Rosina wrote: "Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Val wrote: "We do find out where he has gone, but not why he did not tell anyone he was going."

But we did. It was very clear at the end."

Why didn't he tell Gretta? It..."
I agree. Gretta knew all about his life before her, so to have told her he was going was the least he could do. Not just take himself off, leaving someone he supposedly loved completely distraught. She could then have decided what she told their children.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Jill wrote: "Not just take himself off, leaving someone he supposedly loved completely distraught. "

He had never been communicative. I'm not defending him, but his action was completely within character.

[Susan]

A lot of the characters left things unspoken. It was the way they didn't communicate which was the problem, so, for Robert not to do so was completely in character.

[Jill]

Yes to me , it was another selfish act , which probably contributed to the selfishness of his children.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Jill wrote: "Yes to me , it was another selfish act , which probably contributed to the selfishness of his children."

I didn't see it as selfish in any way. Whose privacy was he protecting? His brother's privacy. And I think he was caught between loyalties. Life does not provide clear answers to every situation.

[Jill]

We will have to differ on that, as I think his loyalty to his "wife" and children should have come before his feelings for his brother who he had not seen for years.

[Judy]

I thought he should have told them, not left them thinking he might be dead. If he didn't want to tell them about his brother, he could always have said he had to go on a trip for some other reason. But then I suppose we wouldn't have had a book!

[Judy]

I'm a bit puzzled as to why Michael Francis is named after the brother - surely "Francis" is the last name that Robert would have wanted for his son?

[Susan]

To hear your brother is dying, when you last saw him in such difficult circumstances and haven't spoken to him in years, must have been overwhelming though. I am not sure you can put such emotions in boxes - I am sure that, normally, his feelings for his family took priority, but perhaps he was just wondering what to do and, one day, he walked out and just didn't go back. It was a sudden decision and, once made, he had to keep going. We never saw his thought processes, just the reaction to it.

I actually liked all of the family, in different ways. I thought it was very well written and I thought O'Farrell wrote those difficult, family relationships well. That shared history that can be a strength, but also a weakness.

[Rosina]

Judy wrote: "I'm a bit puzzled as to why Michael Francis is named after the brother - surely "Francis" is the last name that Robert would have wanted for his son?"

But I suppose if his story was that his brother had died fighting for Ireland then it would have been difficult not to want it commemorated in his son's name. The lies they told each other catching up on them.