Murray Pogue is a twentysomething suburban Dublin girl on the run from her past in America. She lap dances, steals, waitresses, lives with a lesbian biker, sells double glazing and after years of silence begins a correspondence with her mother back in Ireland.
In Chicago, she meets the love of her life, the sophisticated Manfredi, and as he gets too close, she runs away. The story is told in a tumble of styles. Sometimes the narrative is in the first person, sometimes the third, there are streams of consciousness, dreamy passages and sharp slangy dialogue.
Citron's style sometimes gets in the way of the characters and of the story. Towards the end of the book, Murray admits that she may have exaggerated or even fabricated some of her more exotic adventures but Citron's vivid descriptive ability makes them seem real and credible. The reason why she is on the run slowly emerges and the book ends with a disappointing Mills & Boon-style finale.
Bernice Harrison is an Irish Times columnist