Ordinary Human Failings

Megan Nolan’s Ordinary Human Failings is a taut, darkly compelling novel about guilt, class, and the weight of family history. When a child is killed, suspicion falls on an Irish immigrant family in London, and the novel unpacks decades of secrets and shame. Nolan writes with psychological acuity, dissecting how trauma and poverty reverberate through generations. Her prose is sharp, unsparing, and charged with emotion. The novel is unflinching in its portrayal of human weakness, yet compassionate in its recognition of our shared flaws. It is both disturbing and profoundly humane.