Molly Fox's Birthday
by Deirdre Madden
Nominations: Dublin Longlist 2010, Women’s Prize Finalist 2009
Date Read: July 18, 2023
Molly Fox’s Birthday is a unique novel in that the entire work is a reminiscence about the past and the present of our unnamed main character’s best friend, Molly. Unnamed has done a house swap with her best friend, moving in to Molly’s Ireland house and Molly has moved into her London house. What makes these particular women remarkable is that Molly is a famous actress on the stage and Unnamed is a revered playwright.
Molly and Unnamed have known each other since Unnamed was in university. She had seen Molly in a play and was bewitched by her talent. Having known from a young age she wanted to be a playwright, she hope to someday write a play that Molly could perform in. Indeed, this is what came to pass and from that moment on, they both played a key role in each other’s lives.
Although a lot of the reminiscences occur in the past, this novel doesn’t read as stale history but the living and breathing of the now. Madden offers delicious gems about life, the nature of friendship, love, the scaredness of parenthood and the complicated yet necessary connections of family. She is accepting of the course of human relationships without judgement and can find the beauty in a simple friendship and a life well lived.
Peripheral characters add to the spell being cast, such as Tom, one of Unnamed’s many brothers. Fergus is the troubled brother of Molly whose mother ran out on them on Molly’s seventh birthday. And last, but not least, Andrew, a very close friend of Unnamed’s whose relationships swerves above and below the line of friendship. The longevity of these relationships provides all with a sense of security and support. The idea of knowing someone so intimately is a comfort but as Unnamed learns by living in Molly’s house, you can never know someone completely.
A charming and captivating read.
“I remember that you were arguing with Molly one time about religion and you said that one’s first and perhaps only moral responsibility was to be fully human.”
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