Runaway Road

This is a startlingly good book. Set in Derry and Donegal in 2023 its focus is not the Troubles, but the aftermath, those left behind in society as so much detritus – no future, no way forward, no second chance. Ezra is sixteen, his sister Evie is nine and diagnosed with autism and they are devoted to each other. They were removed from a chaotic and violent home seven years ago and placed in the care system, a misnomer as it has come nowhere near to meeting their needs. The final straw for Ezra is when he is coerced by his paramilitary dealers into taking Lewis, the privileged son of a prestigious local lawyer, along to a burglary so that he can be skilled up to clear his drug debts without his family knowing about his habit. Lewis, high and loud, botches the burglary and attacks the elderly woman householder, leaving her for dead and threatening to kill Evie if Ezra turns him in. After calling an ambulance Ezra flees, convinced that the woman will die and he will be caught and imprisoned.

He decides he must leave and somehow make his way across the border into Northern Ireland where he will be unknown – but he cannot take Evie on such a long and dangerous journey which has no clear outcome. However, Evie is determined not be separated from him and they set out together with lamentably little provision for the task ahead. They become three when Alannah, Ezra’s former close friend, decides to help out by joining them.

Divin’s character creation is impeccable. Ezra, badly damaged by the most brutal childhood traumas, is convinced of his worthlessness and yet his deep love for Evie drives him on in the hope of finding safety for her future, regardless of his own. There is no sentimental indulgence here on Divin’s part: she gives him humour, ingenuity and, through Alannah and Evie, makes the reader aware that he has honesty and integrity which he has been forced to hide in order to make a pathway through the failing care system for himself and his sister. Evie is a charismatic, intelligent and entertaining child, and her record of events and feelings on her precious I Pad is interleaved with the chapters where Ezra narrates.

At journey’s end, having finally crossed the border into the north, Ezra is caught and placed in the prison system awaiting trial for the burglary and attempted manslaughter which he has confessed to in order to save Evie from Lewis’ threats. Ironically, whilst he  in the youth detention centre awaiting trial he is guided by an empathetic member of staff towards a point when he can finally speak about the dreadful treatment his father subjected him to and begin to see a way forward to a positive future for himself and Evie and a new beginning for his relationship with Alannah. And when, during the trial for the burglary, Lewis becomes over-confident and unthinkingly implicates himself the way is clear for Ezra to make his last and most important move – the life he could only previously imagine with his sister, a secure home and a solid relationship with Alannah. It would be a hard-hearted reader indeed who is dry-eyed at the conclusion of this powerful and ambitious novel.