Annie Dunne

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Accepting her situation and getting on with the hard work of life on a small farm, while yet holding to herself the grander days of her youth in Dublin Castle as giving her a sense of superiority. Every generation, I suppose, has a time they look back on fondly, and with some disdain for some of the changes that have come with the times. But the death isn't ruled a murder—and might never have been if one of the gang—a cadging sybarite named Bunny Corcoran—hadn't shown signs of cracking under the secret's weight.

And that’s all we can say about it, the shortness, the swiftness, and the strange unimportance of life. Annie Dunne is a novel in which few external dramas occur--there is an accident with a pony and trap, one of the children goes temporarily missing--but Barry evokes superbly the inner dramas of his characters. In the movies, Annies are always: cute/pretty/beautiful; perky/down-to-earth; inquisitive to intelligent/well-read; loyal/wholesome; a perfect woman for a good man. There are a lot of posers out there trying too hard to stand out, attempting to be original both with language and by creating unusual characters. How my heart went out to you as you told me your stories – past and present – and how the future held such strong fears for you.A summer of adventure, pain, delight and ultimately epiphany unfolds for both the children and their elderly caretakers in this poignant and exquisitely told story of innocence, loss and reconciliation. Whether I agreed with her (most times) or not (sometimes), I couldn’t help but feel compassion for her in her struggles with herself – and a world that had moved on with her clinging to its shirt tails. This is the story of an Irish woman, around 60 years old, never married (spinster as they would say in Ireland), with a hump in her back, who sees the Ireland of her childhood disappearing who feels isolated and is bitter because she has come to feel isolated and alone in the world, except for her cousin Sarah with whom she lives. There she had been an unpaid housekeeper, nanny and general dogsbody; with no means of her own, and having failed to find accommodation with any of her other relatives, in desperation she had written to Sarah to ask her if she could help her on the farm? One of Annie’s grown up nephews leaves his two children for the summer, a four year old boy and his six year old sister.

There is also an undercurrent of bewilderment about the presence of children in this world of disillusioned adults--can Annie even know what innocence is any longer? But against that happiness moves the figure of Billy Kerr, with his ambiguous attentions to Sarah, threatening to drive Annie from her last niche of safety in the world.

She is, to the core of her being, an angry and bitter woman, but one possessed of a poet's sensibilities and a brave and loyal heart.

Sebastian Barry revisits Annie Dunne in his more recent novel "On Canaan's Side", which tells the story of Annie's youngest sister, Lily who emigrates to the US. While this is not a plot driven story, the way he creates the characters and peels back a corner at a time to give you a glimpse at their motivations and inner lives is wonderful. On the one hand AD is a convoluted tale set in a specific time and place, briskly told without coyness or shame, circling themes of universal significance involving difficult and rather unpleasant people in difficult and often unpleasant circumstances. The Brat Pack meets The Bacchae in this precious, way-too-long, and utterly unsuspenseful town-and-gown murder tale.

The lifestyle on Sara’s tiny farm was one the city-bred youngsters adored, and Annie felt the same way.

As the story opens Annie and Sarah are awaiting the arrival of Trevor's two children, who will be spending the summer with them. She is strong but constantly aware of the dangers in her life--from creepy gypsies trying to break into the house, to runaway horses, to a suitor to Sarah who could potentially kick Annie out, leaving her homeless and alone. Then there is the hidden but suspected molestation of the little girl about which Annie can do nothing, a frustration thing to the reader somehow who feels her helplessness and how if she said anything it would backfire on her. A summer of adventure pain delight and ultimately epiphany unfolds for both the children and their elderly caretakers in this poignant and exquisitely told story of innocence loss and reconciliation.When they both move to Dublin for Trinity College, their positions are swapped: Marianne now seems electric and in-demand while Connell feels adrift in this unfamiliar environment. One of the aspects that makes this novel worth reading though is its depiction of the insecurity Annie faces as a single woman in a conservative and rural society. Her laugh is thick and chesty, like blackberries beginning to bubble in the big pot, when we are making preserves in the autumn. This sounds wonderful Kim, I have been meaning to read another Barry novel for a while as I really liked The Secret Scripture and would like to read more of his novels especially ones like this. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and an Honorary Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin.