The first half, 'Leaving', spans the years 1980 to 2005 with chapters presented from differing perspectives, focussing on each of the children. It begins with twelve-year-old Hanna describing the tension in the house when her older brother Dan announces he will enter the priesthood. Rosaleen is hysteric and disappears into her bedroom, refusing to leave. We follow Dan to New York during the early 1990s where he is part of the queer community navigating the spectre of the AIDS epidemic. We return to Ireland, where Constance is a mother with young children, disappointed by many things in her life, and worried about her health. Then we find Emmet in Mali, working as an aid worker, drifting through his life.
In the second half, 'Coming Home', Enright changes the narrative again as the Madigan children return to Ardeevin for Christmas with their mother. Rosaleen, now a 76-year-old widow, has decided to sell the family home and move in with Constance, not that her daughter wants her to. The children are all adults with various complications - depression, fear of commitment, alcoholism, career stagnation. The siblings love each other, but don't like one another or have much in common. Tensions arise, as they so often do at family gatherings, with the children seeking to hold on to the childhood home that they were all so desperate to escape from.
I particularly enjoyed the way Enright chose to share the perspective among the family members, rather than give readers a single protagonist. It reads almost as a collection of interwoven short stories. The story of Dan in New York is one of the most heartbreaking tales I have ever read, leaving me in tears as Enright follows men who contracted HIV/AIDS and the fear and shame so many gay men felt during that period. Enright also chose to write in first person plural - 'we' - to demonstrate the impact on a whole community. This chapter alone is enough to make me recommend this book, as I well recall those terrible early years and Enright has captured them perfectly.
The Green Road was critically acclaimed and received many award nominations, including being shortlisted for the 2016 Women's Prize and longlisted for the 2015 Booker Prize.