This is my 4th Deirdre Madden novel, her first, the slimmest and the most focused on life in Northern Ireland during The Troubles. Theresa's twin brother, Francis, who might have been headed for the priesthood, was brutally murdered by the occupying Brits. Her friend Kathy, from a wealthy family, has been told that her father is dead, and, twenty years later, receives a letter from him. Kathy's boyfriend Robert, a self centered journalist, disdains his sister's lower class family but cannot find a place for himself. None of the main characters are happy or productive or generous in spirit. Religious or atheist, they derive no comfort from earthly or unearthly pleasures.

Of course, thus is life during wartime. Very well-written, sad, and disturbing. ( )