Content Warning: This section of the guide describes and discusses the novel’s treatment of wartime violence, homicide, and alcohol addiction.

Cushla Lavery visits a museum, and a tour guide with a gorse tattoo shows the group a sculpture depicting a man who was murdered in the 1970s. Cushla knew the subject and notes how the artist’s attention to detail accurately captures the “neat ball of fat at his middle. The slight raise of his right shoulder. A doughiness about the jaw” (2). She observes that his expression is peaceful as though he is asleep. Another visitor to the museum, a gray-haired man in glasses, asks Cushla if she remembers him.

The narrative moves back in time to the Troubles. On Ash Wednesday, a 24-year-old Cushla helps her brother, Eamonn, at their family’s pub. Eamonn irritably tells her to wipe the ashes off of her forehead because most of their patrons are Protestant. In addition to the regulars, Cushla sees a middle-aged man named Michael with dark eyes, formal clothes, and a deep voice. The local news shows footage of bombings and deaths. English troops have been stationed in the town since 1969.