First published 1996
Cate returns to the Irish countryside where she grew up with her sisters Helen and Sally. The landscape remains unchanged: vast skies stretch over poor soil, flat fields bordered by hawthorn and alder trees, gray water under wild winds. But the Ireland of their childhood has vanished. Their father was murdered, throwing them into the reality of political violence that once seemed distant from their loving family on the farm. Now the sisters live separate lives shaped by that loss. Cate works as a journalist for a fashion magazine in London. Helen became a lawyer in Belfast, specializing in terrorism cases. Sally teaches school, the quietest of the three. Cate brings shocking news that forces each sister to examine how their lives remain tied to events beyond their control. The violence that destroyed their family continues to define them, even as they try to build new identities away from home.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, contemporary, family-drama
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: family-drama, sisters
Setting: Belfast, Ireland, London
Period: 20th-century
Hardcover · Faber & Faber
Content warnings: violence