Michael Cumiskey
Initially the context of the story is the conflict in Ireland and in some ways the troublesof Lorna and her family reflect that situation. Lorna Donnelly is the eldest in a familyof four children: Catholics living in a Loyalist region of Belfast. The story originates at thetime of the first IRA ceasefire and culminates about the time of the Peace Accord some37 years later. Mr. Donnelly is killed by the IRA and his wife decides to migrate withher children to England. She meets and marries Jimmy Ungerside, a butcher. Jimmy is aserial child abuser and to varying degrees the whole family suffer at his hands, especiallyLorna. The effect on the girl’s development and later on her career is seen as an echo intandem of the ’Troubles’ The same is also true of her sister and two brothers. Each chapterincludes a contemporaneous news report and an excerpt from Lorna’s diary each linkedby some similar notion of abuse. Lorna eventually marries but the episodes that tormenther psychology continue despite concentrated periods of treatment. It is not until she ismade aware of another significant cause that there is finally some hope of real recovery.
