Although we never actually meet the character from the title the readers feels they have met her through the reflections of her friend who is staying in her house. A cleverly spun tale with vivid imagery bringing Molly and her house alive. An engaging read.
Dublin. Midsummer. While absent in New York, the celebrated actor Molly Fox has loaned her house to a playwright friend, who is struggling to write a new work. Over the course of this, the longest day of the year, the playwright reflects upon her own life, Molly’s, and that of their mutual friend Andrew, whom she has known since university.
Why does Molly never celebrate her own birthday, which falls upon this day? What does it mean to be a playwright or an actor? How have their relationships evolved over the course of many years?
Molly Fox’s Birthday calls into question the ideas that we hold about who we are; and shows how the past informs the present in ways we might never have imagined.
Deirdre Madden is from Toomebridge, Co. Antrim. Her novels include The Birds of InnocentWood, Nothing is Black, One by One in the Darkness, which was shortlisted for the Orange Prize, and Authenticity. Her most recent novel is Molly Fox's Birthday. She teaches at Trinity College, Dublin and is a member of the Irish Arts Academy Aosdana.
