When we encounter the adult Frank, he has been summoned back to his childhood home by his sister Jackie. Narrated by Frank Mackey, it is a masterful tale of forbidden love, family loyalties, sibling rivalries and sins of the fathers extending their injurious reach into the next generation. The trouble is, most roads lead in two directions - and Frank is about to revisit the past he hoped to leave behind forever.įaithful Place is Irish author Tana French’s third novel (following 2007’s In the Woods and 2008’s The Likeness), and certainly her best one yet. And he is determined that she won’t ever be exposed to the sorts of horrors he once experienced with his own family, back in Faithful Place. He has a 9-year-old daughter, Holly, who is the light of his life. Frank Mackey is a cop, a member of the Dublin Murder Squad, working in the undercover unit. He was already bound and determined to leave Faithful Place, and even without Rosie at his side, he kept on going. Frank wasn’t about to be stopped by this unexpected turn of events. So the young man just assumed that Rosie had had second thoughts about hooking up with him, and had instead lit out for England on her own.

She’d previously been forbidden by her father from associating with Frank. They planned to get married, find good jobs and not look back again toward the poverty and unforgiving reality of their lives on Faithful Place.īut Rosie never showed up for their meeting.

On a frigid December night 22 years ago, teenager Frank Mackey left his gritty Dublin neighborhood, intending to run away to London with his girl, Rosie Daly.

A faithful place