Lullabies for Little Criminals

Incredibly, this is O’Neill’s debut novel. It was exceptionally written, and the imagery, though bleak, was beautifully brought to life. In a sad, dark way, I kept reminding myself this wasn’t a memoir or biography; it just had that gritty, real feeling. O’Neill takes on the messy, sad, scary and heart-wrenching narrative of Baby and Jules in a way that made me want to scream at them to run the other way from their decisions, but I also wanted to wrap them up in a hug with all the empathy in the world. This story, at its core, was about a child struggling with grief, mental illness and addiction trying to raise a child and the ripple effect of that reality; it was fantastic.