In the Family Way: Roddy Doyle's Barrytown Trilogy (1987-91) -- House Arrest: John McGahern's Amongst Women (1990) -- Uncertain Terms, Unstable Sands: Colm Tóibín's The Heather Blazing (1992) -- Malignant Shame: Patrick McCabe's The Butcher Boy (1992) -- Unbearable Proximities: William Trevor's Felicia's Journey (1994) -- History's Hostages: Edna O'Brien's House of Splendid Isolation (1996) -- Selfhood Deferred: Seamus Deane's Reading in the Dark (1996) -- The Politics of Pity: Sebastian Barry's A Long Long Way (2005) -- Mourning Remains Unknown: Anne Enright's The Gathering (2007).