Vivian doesn’t feel like she fits in – never has. She lives alone in a house in north Dublin that her great-aunt left to her. She believes that she is a changeling, left by fairies on Earth, replacing her parents’ healthy human child. Now, as an adult, she’s trying to get back to the ‘other world’, where she feels she can finally belong. The thing is, Vivian is having some difficulties going back, so she’s forced to go about her Earth life in the meantime.
Vivian’s everyday routine, meticulously mapped out on parchment paper, takes her all over Dublin in her effort to get ‘home’. She encounters nosy neighbours, pernickety social workers and her condescending older sister – who is also named Vivian. From making lists in her journal to posting ‘wanted’ advertisements for a friend named Penelope, Vivian leads an eccentric life.
Vivian’s head is filled to the brim with clever one-liners that leave the people she encounters more than a little confused. Her OCD-like tendencies make her human relationships strained, but she still has the house her Great Aunt Maude left her – as long as she doesn’t hurt its feelings. Eggshells is a witty, exhilarating debut.
