Grief becomes a pathway to love, community, and healing in The Seven O'Clock Club by Amelia Ireland. This touching and startling debut novel follows four strangers who meet in an experimental counseling group. Victoria, a middle-aged lawyer with "[p]erfect nails, enormous engagement ring. Stupidly shiny hair"; Mischa, a young woman described as "the human equivalent of a baby mouse"; Freya, an interior designer who hadn't left her house in six months until the first session; and Callum, a famous singer-songwriter whose good looks cannot disguise the "tell-tale signs of a haunted human being." Facilitated by Genevieve, the program's purpose is "exploring alternative ways of navigating the grief process."
She asks them to share their internal lives with each other a bit at a time, beginning with childhood memories, fostering a bond between them. Walls slowly come down, and as the group struggles through setbacks and conflicts, revelations of their individual pain surface. However, when all their truths finally rise to the light, healing comes with difficult choices. Genevieve is no ordinary counselor, and her sessions have an end goal none of the participants could ever have imagined.
This propulsive, heartfelt novel is grounded in moving depictions of bereavement, with each section of chapters named after a Kübler-Ross stage of grief. The first-person point of view shifts among the foursome, but Ireland has written their voices so distinctly that changes in perspective never leave one uncertain which character has taken over the narration.
Readers seeking an engrossing emotional journey that deeply engages their sympathy and offers thought-provoking surprises with a touch of magical realism will find much to like in this life-affirming ensemble drama. --Jaclyn Fulwood