by James Joyce
First published 2011
Gabriel Conroy arrives at his aunts' annual holiday gathering in Dublin, navigating the familiar rhythms of family and social performance. As the evening unfolds, he delivers a carefully prepared speech and dances with his wife Gretta, feeling secure in their connection. But a haunting folk song triggers a revelation about Gretta's past love—a young man who died years ago—which shatters Gabriel's understanding of their relationship. Suddenly, his confident worldview crumbles, replaced by a profound sense of human fragility and the weight of unspoken histories. In one transformative night, Gabriel confronts the delicate membrane between memory and mortality.
Genres: fiction, drama, literary-fiction, 20th-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: unreliable-narrator
Setting: Dublin
Period: 20th-century
100 pages · Paperback · Melville House Publishing