In a recent radio interview, the American writer Alice McDermott joked with her host about how long it has been since she released a novel: “The publicity people at my publisher were talking to me about platforms,” she said, “And last time I had a book come out, platforms were shoes.” For fans of this National Book Award winner, the wait is richly rewarded with her exquisite new novel, her seventh. What happens in Someone? It’s not quite Woman Goes on a Journey, unless we count walking around Brooklyn, nor is it really Stranger Comes to Town, since the Brooklyn characters are Irish Catholics – among whom there are no strangers and from whom no secrets are hid. Unsurprisingly, the central action of Someone is less the focus than who it happens to: Marie