{"id":4337,"date":"2026-07-05T17:07:48","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T17:07:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4337"},"modified":"2026-07-05T17:07:48","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T17:07:48","slug":"a-literary-exploration-of-the-lives-of-girls-and-women-from-a-writer-more-americans-should-read","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4337","title":{"rendered":"A literary exploration of the lives of girls and women, from a writer more Americans should read"},"content":{"rendered":"<article>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p><span><span>C<\/span><\/span><span><span>alling an author\u2019s work ambitious is often a polite way to say someone has tried and failed, but \u201cDevotions,\u201d the new short story collection from Northern Irish author Lucy Caldwell, is a genuinely ambitious and rewarding collection.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4335\">Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular: How to watch and everything you need to know<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><span>Early in her career, Caldwell was lauded for her work as both a playwright and a novelist, but over the past decade, the Belfast-born author has emerged as one of the most exciting and prolific story writers in the United Kingdom. She was little known here until finally making her stateside debut in 2025 thanks to Sarah Jessica Parker (yes, that one), whose nascent indie imprint acquired the American rights to Caldwell\u2019s historical novel \u201cThese Days\u201d (2022). Around that same time, Caldwell\u2019s century-old UK publisher, Faber &amp; Faber, announced plans to establish a US division. And while the output from that new venture has been rather restrained in its first year, the past several months have seen its most significant project to date in the publication of not only Caldwell\u2019s new story collection, \u201cDevotions,\u201d but also her three earlier volumes, \u201cMultitudes\u201d (2016), \u201cIntimacies\u201d (2021), and \u201cOpenings\u201d (2024).<\/span><\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><span>Get Starting Point<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span>A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday.<\/span><\/div>\n<div>\n<div><label>Enter Email<\/label><\/p>\n<div><button>Sign Up<\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span>This comprehensive strategy makes particular sense for an author who approaches her stories holistically, writing in \u201cDevotions\u201d that her four collections represent \u201csomething unfolding in time, almost a single work.\u201d None of Caldwell\u2019s 43 stories are linked narratively, but each collection is united thematically and those themes mature roughly chronologically. \u201cMultitudes\u201d deals with adolescents, mainly girls, confronting their dawning desire for independence, the stirrings of physical attraction, and the search for one\u2019s place in the world. \u201cIntimacies\u201d centers new or potential mothers filled with restraint and sensitivity, women who yearn but don\u2019t take, who fear losing but haven\u2019t yet lost. That collection includes the gorgeous, sliding doors story \u201cAll the People Were Mean and Bad,\u201d which in 2021 won the BBC\u2019s National Short Story Award, for which Caldwell has been nominated a record four times. (She shares that distinction with Sarah Hall, the award\u2019s only two-time winner.) By \u201cOpenings,\u201d children have grown older, marriages have started to fail, and Caldwell\u2019s protagonists have made mistakes in their lives. That collection includes my favorite of her stories, \u201cDaylight Raids,\u201d about an adulterous couple during the London Blitz, a piece that unfolds like Caldwell is simply considering a writing prompt but slowly expands to relate an entire novel\u2019s worth of life in just two dozen pages.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Now in \u201cDevotions,\u201d the mortal fears that had remained largely hypothetical for Caldwell\u2019s protagonists have manifested, and parents, lovers, even children are dying or dead. Its protagonists, who are somehow displaced, either physically away from home or mentally elsewhere, don\u2019t necessarily explore new territory, but they make broader, more existential assessments about our collective humanity, the value of art, and especially the role of fate vs. free will. This latter discussion is often considered in relation to the Catholic Church, which is more candidly discussed here than in Caldwell\u2019s early stories, with one woman justifying her unwillingness to live in Northern Ireland because she \u201ccouldn\u2019t condemn her daughters to grow up in a place with such a warped fundamentalist attitude to reproductive rights, and no safe, guaranteed access to abortion.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cHamlet, a love story,\u201d the standout opener of \u201cDevotions,\u201d is the key to understanding what Caldwell is after in the collection. Narratively, 25-year-old Sonya sleeps with her theater troupe\u2019s leading man after the group completes a run in New York City, but the tryst is freighted because it\u2019s Sonya\u2019s first since being widowed 18 months earlier. The troupe had been touring \u201cChoose Your Own Hamlet,\u201d in which the Prince of Denmark controls the course of Shakespeare\u2019s tragedy after the conclusion of Act 1. The specifics of the conceit are less important than its implications, namely that someone, be they Hamlet or Sonya or any of us, could control their destiny. Reflecting on this prospect, Sonya says, \u201cI couldn\u2019t work out what was more insane: to live as if you wouldn\u2019t die, or to live as if you would.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4333\">Wikipedia is battling for the soul of the Internet<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>That consideration, how to be or how not to be alive, is revisited throughout \u201cDevotions.\u201d In \u201cA Family Christmas,\u201d a 42-year-old mother of twins confronts the possibility of an unexpected and unsought pregnancy. In \u201cAll Grown Up,\u201d Luke MacNamara, a rare male protagonist in Caldwell\u2019s short fiction, reinvents his life after the death of his mother, a proposition made both easier and more complicated when he reconnects with the younger sister of his adolescent girlfriend. Late in that story, Luke echoes Sonya\u2019s uncertainty when he muses that \u201cYou\u2019d go mad &#8230; trying to put an order on things \u2014 believing that some things were or weren\u2019t \u2018fated.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The collection has three uncharacteristically slight stories, but finishes strong, with \u201cThe Lady of the House,\u201d about a new aunt who feels life \u201cslipping out of [her] grasp,\u201d and the concluding titular story about a woman whose husband keeps their kids occupied so she can livestream a winter solstice celebration at Newgrange, a prehistoric tomb north of Dublin. As the event\u2019s announcers wonder whether the clouds will clear before sunrise, they tell listeners, \u201cWe have to let go of our attachment to the outcome.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>That sentiment dovetails nicely with \u201cThe Ally Ally O,\u201d the first story in Caldwell\u2019s first collection, in which a mother cedes control to her daughters by allowing them to choose whether the car turns left, right, or continues straight at each intersection. The oldest daughter, who is obsessed with disasters \u2014 everything from earthquakes to Chernobyl \u2014 believes their mum must have \u201csomehow steered [our] choices\u201d to keep them safe. If Caldwell\u2019s short story project were to end with \u201cDevotions,\u201d circling back to the idea that fate relies on knowing when and how to let go is a tremendously satisfying conclusion.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4331\">Game 88: Red Sox at Angels lineups and notes<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span><b>DEVOTIONS<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>By Lucy Caldwell <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Faber &amp; Faber, 208 pages, $17.95<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><i>Cory Oldweiler is a freelance critic. <\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Calling an author\u2019s work ambitious is often a polite way to say someone has tried and failed, but \u201cDevotions,\u201d the new short story collection from Northern Irish author Lucy Caldwell, is a genuinely ambitious and rewarding collection.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4336,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>A literary exploration of the lives of girls and women, from a writer more Americans should read - Boston Relocation Insider<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4337\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A literary exploration of the lives of girls and women, from a writer more Americans should read - Boston Relocation Insider\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Calling an author\u2019s work ambitious is often a polite way to say someone has tried and failed, but \u201cDevotions,\u201d the new short story collection from Northern Irish author Lucy Caldwell, is a genuinely ambitious and rewarding collection.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4337\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Boston Relocation Insider\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-05T17:07:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?p=4337#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?p=4337\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c08a982d5d5e7124cea9158df226037e\"},\"headline\":\"A literary exploration of the lives of girls and women, from a writer more Americans should read\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-05T17:07:48+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?p=4337\"},\"wordCount\":1062,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?p=4337#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1610c7f5ee00010590ea775a63eddde9.avif\",\"articleSection\":[\"Arts\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?p=4337#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?p=4337\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?p=4337\",\"name\":\"A literary exploration of the lives of girls and women, from a writer more Americans should read - Boston Relocation Insider\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?p=4337#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?p=4337#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1610c7f5ee00010590ea775a63eddde9.avif\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-05T17:07:48+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c08a982d5d5e7124cea9158df226037e\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?p=4337#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?p=4337\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?p=4337#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1610c7f5ee00010590ea775a63eddde9.avif\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1610c7f5ee00010590ea775a63eddde9.avif\",\"width\":1440,\"height\":1163},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?p=4337#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A literary exploration of the lives of girls and women, from a writer more Americans should read\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Boston Relocation Insider\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c08a982d5d5e7124cea9158df226037e\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A literary exploration of the lives of girls and women, from a writer more Americans should read - Boston Relocation Insider","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4337","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A literary exploration of the lives of girls and women, from a writer more Americans should read - Boston Relocation Insider","og_description":"Calling an author\u2019s work ambitious is often a polite way to say someone has tried and failed, but \u201cDevotions,\u201d the new short story collection from Northern Irish author Lucy Caldwell, is a genuinely ambitious and rewarding collection.","og_url":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4337","og_site_name":"Boston Relocation Insider","article_published_time":"2026-07-05T17:07:48+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4337#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4337"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/#\/schema\/person\/c08a982d5d5e7124cea9158df226037e"},"headline":"A literary exploration of the lives of girls and women, from a writer more Americans should read","datePublished":"2026-07-05T17:07:48+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4337"},"wordCount":1062,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4337#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1610c7f5ee00010590ea775a63eddde9.avif","articleSection":["Arts"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4337#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4337","url":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4337","name":"A literary exploration of the lives of girls and women, from a writer more Americans should read - Boston Relocation Insider","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4337#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4337#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1610c7f5ee00010590ea775a63eddde9.avif","datePublished":"2026-07-05T17:07:48+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/#\/schema\/person\/c08a982d5d5e7124cea9158df226037e"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4337#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4337"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4337#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1610c7f5ee00010590ea775a63eddde9.avif","contentUrl":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1610c7f5ee00010590ea775a63eddde9.avif","width":1440,"height":1163},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4337#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A literary exploration of the lives of girls and women, from a writer more Americans should read"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/","name":"Boston Relocation Insider","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/#\/schema\/person\/c08a982d5d5e7124cea9158df226037e","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com"],"url":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4337\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}