The boy’s mother knew this, and when she found out she warned McIlhenny in time for him to escape to America. However, it emerged later that the real informer had been McIlhenny, his aunt Kate’s husband, and therefore Eddie had been killed in error. He was executed by the IRA in a remote farmhouse under the orders of the narrator’s maternal grandfather. Eddie had been accused of being a police informer and had been unable to prove his innocence. The story traces the family’s complicated history which reveals many secrets surrounding the mysterious disappearance of Eddie, his father’s brother.
He is the third oldest of seven children in a working-class Catholic family.
The unnamed narrator is a young boy, who describes the years of his growing up in Derry in the 1940s and ‘50s.
With knowledge of these events, many aspects of the boy’s story are more meaningful to the reader who can then understand the significance of many apparently general comments. Deane also refers to the church festivities on the 15 th of August which were turned into a political event as time went on. These are briefly mentioned and used as landmarks to guide the structure of the book. Few direct references are made to the actual events of the time, with the exception of the 12 th of July celebrations, commemorating the triumph of the Protestant armies at the Battle of the Boyne the Apprentice Boys march on the 12 th of August, celebrating the liberation of the city of Derry from a besieging Catholic army in 1689 and the 18 th of December, the burning of Lundy’s effigy. The reader learns to piece the story together of a tense historical period, where secrets about past deeds are buried and rarely, if ever, revealed even to those who are closest to those who participated in them. Here the writer emphasises the hazards and dangers of the time and shows the children’s thrill at getting the better of the police. Two police cars skidded sharply under a hail of stones and one burst into flames. Patrick’s Day riot where the police baton-charged a march and were enticed down a long street where half a barrel of oil was poured onto the street as they approached. Throughout the book we are reminded of the conflict that surrounds the narrator.Īn example of the narrator’s direct involvement is shown in the story of the St. This incredibly well-crafted novel is set in Derry over a 16-year period from 1945 to 1961, the book presents a child’s view of the tensions in the city during that time.
This has to be one of my favourite novels of all time – definitely the best book never to win The Booker! There you go – I’ve put my cards on the table for all to see. STUDY NOTES ON READING IN THE DARK * BY SEAMUS DEANE *Page references are from the Vintage, 1997 edition
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