In her post-apocalyptic debut novel, Sarah Maria Griffin never lets you forget that her protagonist, Nell Crane, is running out of time. The ticking of Nell’s mechanical heart never lets her forget, either: she is coming up on her twenty-first birthday and must present a “contribution” to her community in the Pale (the shattered remnants of Dublin), go to the Pasture where her Nan presides like a priestess, or become one of the workers on the colossal statue of Kathleen ni Houlihan (also called Kate), […]