Una a una en la oscuridad

The vast sky, the alders and hawthorns bordering the fields, the sturdy stone house... This extraordinary novel transports us to Northern Ireland, shortly before the IRA ceasefire of 1994. Cate travels there from London to reunite with her sisters and mother, spending a week together in the family home. It is a long-awaited reunion, where events intertwine with memories of childhood and adolescence in a once-joyful rural setting—the family farm—surrounded by nature and affection, sheltered from the early political unrest. The life of this Catholic minority family during the sixties and seventies unfolds through stories of their grandmothers—one prickly, the other adorable—and anecdotes about school and neighbors... And, naturally, memories of their beloved father are woven into their conversations. Past and present seem to merge as we come to know and love Charlie Quinn, his wife, and his daughters; consequently, the brutal, traumatic impact of the father’s murder at the hands of Loyalist paramilitaries strikes us with equal force. We witness the shock—left almost speechless by the upheaval—and see how its mark remains palpable throughout the sisters' subsequent lives, shaping their decisions and fears, their escapes and their triumphs.