In her sophomore novel, May All Your Skies Be Blue, Fíona Scarlett crafts a poignant narrative about the enduring power of first love and the weight of responsibilities that can pull even the most devoted hearts apart. Following her acclaimed debut Boys Don’t Cry, Scarlett returns with a moving exploration of how life’s circumstances can simultaneously forge and fracture deep connections.
Set in Dublin’s suburbia from the early 1990s through to 2016, this novel traces the relationship between Shauna Ryan and Dean Whelan – two souls whose lives become irrevocably intertwined when Shauna and her mother Maggie move to Hoodstown to open a hair salon. Through alternating timelines that shift between past and present, Scarlett masterfully reveals how youthful promises and missed opportunities reverberate across decades, leaving lasting imprints on lives shaped by both choice and circumstance.
A Love Story Told Through Time
Scarlett employs a distinctive narrative structure that might initially challenge readers but ultimately rewards their patience. The novel weaves between different time periods, creating a tapestry that gradually reveals the full emotional weight of Shauna and Dean’s relationship:
- The Beginning (1991-1999) – Childhood friendship blossoms into teenage love amid the vibrant backdrop of 90s Ireland
- The Present Day (2025) – Shauna navigates her life as a hairdresser, caring for her mother, when she learns Dean has returned
- The In-Between Years – Glimpses of pivotal moments when paths might have reconnected but didn’t
This non-linear approach mirrors the fragmented nature of memory and regret. As one character poignantly observes: “memory is rose-tinted. Because roses have thorns.” The structure forces readers to piece together the puzzle of what exactly transpired between these star-crossed lovers, making each revelation more impactful.
Characters That Breathe Dublin’s Air
Scarlett excels at creating characters who feel authentically rooted in Dublin’s working-class neighborhoods. The cast extends beyond our central pair to include:
- Maggie – Shauna’s vibrant mother whose early-onset dementia becomes the pivot point around which Shauna’s life choices revolve
- Pamela and Mark – Childhood friends forming a tight-knit quartet that evolves through adolescence and adulthood
- Melody – The compassionate caregiver who becomes family through shared responsibility
- Natasha – The sometimes-antagonist whose complexity grows as the years pass
The novel’s greatest strength lies in how these characters evolve over three decades without losing their essential nature. Readers witness Dean’s struggles with his alcoholic parents, Shauna’s devotion to her deteriorating mother, and the ways their friend group splinters and reconnects through the years.
Dublin in the ’90s: A Vivid Backdrop
The 1990s setting pulsates with nostalgic energy. Scarlett infuses the narrative with cultural touchstones that will resonate with readers who lived through the era:
- Oasis versus Blur debates
- Attending shows at the RDS
- Xtra-vision rentals and Video players
- Experimental fashion phases (crimped hair and platform shoes)
- First cigarettes and alcopops
These details never feel forced or merely decorative. Instead, they form an authentic backdrop against which universal coming-of-age experiences unfold—first kisses, school discos, and the tentative steps toward adulthood. Dublin itself becomes a character, its working-class neighborhoods and evolving landscape reflecting the characters’ own transformations.
The Weight of Responsibility and Choice
At its heart, May All Your Skies Be Blue examines how family responsibilities can shape—and sometimes limit—our choices. When Maggie’s dementia diagnosis coincides with Dean and Shauna’s plans to start a new life in New York, the novel asks profound questions about duty, sacrifice, and the nature of love itself.
Scarlett refuses easy answers. Shauna’s decision to remain with her mother comes at tremendous personal cost, yet the novel never suggests she made the wrong choice. Similarly, Dean’s escape from his troubled home environment represents both liberation and loss. This nuanced approach elevates the narrative beyond typical romance tropes, inviting readers to contemplate what they might do when faced with competing forms of love.
Prose That Captures Working-Class Dublin
Scarlett’s prose style deserves special mention. She writes with an unflinching directness that captures Dublin’s working-class cadence without ever feeling contrived:
“Shauna. With all due respect, it’s none of your f*cking business.”
The dialogue crackles with authenticity—sometimes profane, often funny, and always true to character. Moreover, Scarlett has a gift for concise yet evocative description that brings scenes vividly to life:
“The smell of damp, and Johnny Blue and CK One—and if only we could stay there. Freeze that time. Forever.”
These sensory details transport readers directly into the emotional landscape of the story, making even small moments resonate with meaning.
Where the Novel Falls Short
Despite its many strengths, May All Your Skies Be Blue isn’t without flaws. At times, the non-linear timeline can feel unnecessarily confusing, requiring readers to work harder than necessary to place events in sequence. A clearer signposting of timeframes would have eliminated some momentary disorientation without sacrificing the emotional impact.
Additionally, some secondary character arcs—particularly Natasha’s—feel underdeveloped despite promising complexity. Her transformation from teenage antagonist to someone seeking her own form of redemption hints at depths that the novel doesn’t fully explore.
Perhaps most significantly, the final revelation about Dean’s fate might strike some readers as emotionally manipulative. While devastating and powerful, this twist risks overshadowing the more nuanced explorations of choice and circumstance that precede it.
A Worthy Successor to “Boys Don’t Cry”
Readers who appreciated Scarlett’s debut novel Boys Don’t Cry will find similar themes of family obligation and working-class Dublin life here, though May All Your Skies Be Blue shifts from brotherly bonds to romantic connection. Fans of Sally Rooney’s Normal People will recognize parallel explorations of how class and circumstance can separate people who belong together, though Scarlett’s voice is distinctly her own—grittier and more directly tied to Dublin’s specific cultural landscape. Additionally, it shares a common DNA with Cecelia Ahern’s “PS, I Love You” in its exploration of the themes of love and loss.
The novel also shares DNA with Marian Keyes’ work, particularly in its blend of humor and heartbreak, though Scarlett’s focus remains more consistently on a single relationship rather than broader family dynamics.
Final Verdict:
May All Your Skies Be Blue is a moving exploration of how first love can shape an entire life, even when circumstances keep the lovers apart. Scarlett writes with empathy and insight about working-class Dublin, creating characters whose struggles and joys feel authentic and lived-in.
While some narrative choices occasionally undermine the novel’s emotional impact, the central relationship between Shauna and Dean provides a compelling backbone. Readers will find themselves deeply invested in their story, hoping against hope for a reunion even as life’s complications make this increasingly unlikely.
For those who appreciate character-driven fiction that examines how the choices we make—and those made for us—shape our lives, Scarlett’s second novel offers a poignant reading experience that lingers long after the final page.
Who Should Read This Book
- Fans of Irish contemporary fiction with authentic working-class settings
- Readers who enjoy stories about enduring first love and missed connections
- Those who appreciate narratives exploring family obligation and personal sacrifice
- Anyone who lived through the 1990s and enjoys nostalgic cultural references
- Readers who don’t mind shedding a tear or two over characters who feel real enough to be friends
May All Your Skies Be Blue confirms Fíona Scarlett as a distinctive voice in contemporary Irish fiction—one who writes with honesty and heart about ordinary lives shaped by extraordinary emotions. Despite its occasional missteps, this novel demonstrates that Scarlett’s talent for creating memorable characters and emotionally resonant narratives is no fluke but rather the mark of a writer with important stories to tell.
