Annie Dunne (32 page)

5. “We are blessed in the company of these children,” thinks Annie, “it is our chance” (p. 7), but Sarah describes the children as “shadows,” into which she can’t see (p. 77). How do Sarah and Annie relate to the children in different ways? Do the children come between them?

6. “The world of my youth is wiped away, as if it were only a stain on a more permanent fabric,” thinks Annie. “I do not know where this Ireland is now” (p. 95).
Annie Dunne
is a novel about the loss of old ways, but by referring to past times as a place, how does Annie complicate conventional notions of nostalgia?

7. History looms behind Annie’s memories, especially that of the revolutionaries who ended English rule in Annie’s Ireland. Annie scorns them for having done so, but is her hatred political, or does it come from deeper, more personal emotions? What symbolic role do the historical figures Michael Collins and Eamon De Valera play in Annie’s view of her own life?

8. What is the difference between Annie’s relationship with her niece and with her nephew? How does the boy become a confidant of Annie’s? Why does she describe him as
“sean-aimseartha,
an old fashioned child” (p. 119)?

9. How does Sarah’s and Billy Kerr’s “understanding” threaten Annie? Sarah and Annie are as close to each other as two people can be, but they see their relationship differently. What does Annie’s “marriage of simple souls” (p. 127) mean to Sarah? What prompts her to put it at risk for Billy Kerr?

10. “You are surrounded by things you never notice,” Annie’s brother-in-law, Matt, tells her (p. 156). Since we see the world through Annie’s eyes—ever observant of the land and of Sarah, neglectful of changes in society—it is late in the book before the scope of her alienation from her surroundings emerges. Who is Annie in the eyes of those around her? What explains the great divide between Annie as she sees herself and the Annie whom others see?

For more information about or to order other
Penguin Readers Guides, please call the Penguin Marketing
Department at (800) 778-6425, e-mail
us at [email protected],
or write to us at:

Please allow 4—6 weeks for delivery.
To access Penguin Readers Guides online, visit the PPI Web site at
www.penguinputnam.com
.

For Eneas McNulty, a happy, innocent childhood in County Sligo in the early 1900s gives way to an Ireland wracked by violence and conflict. Unable to find work in the depressed times after World War I, Eneas joins the British-led police force, the Royal Irish Constabulary—a decision that alters the course of his life. Branded a traitor by Irish nationalists and pursued by IRA hitmen, Eneas is forced to flee his homeland, his family, and Viv, the woman he loves. His wandering terminates on the Isle of Dogs, a haven for sailors, where a lifetime of loss is redeemed by a final act of generosity.

 

 

Written with passion and a tender wit,
The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty
is the story of a lost man and a compelling saga that illuminates Ireland’s heartbreaking and complex history.

 

 

“Sebastian Barry is a minstrel of a novelist. He could stand at any street corner in the English-speaking world and chant his book, and his hat would overflow in no time with dollars, punts, pounds....”

—Frank McCourt, author of
Angela’s
Ashes