Anne Enright is a dazzling writer of international stature and one of
Ireland's most singular voices. Now she delivers The Gathering, a
moving, evocative portrait of a large Irish family and a shot of fresh
blood into the Irish literary tradition, combining the lyricism of the
old with the shock of the new. The nine surviving children of the
Hegarty clan are gathering in Dublin for the wake of their wayward
brother, Liam, drowned in the sea. His sister, Veronica, collects the
body and keeps the dead man company, guarding the secret she shares with
him--something that happened in their grandmother's house in the winter
of 1968. As Enright traces the line of betrayal and redemption through
three generations her distinctive intelligence twists the world a
fraction and gives it back to us in a new and unforgettable light. The
Gathering is a daring, witty, and insightful family epic, clarified
through Anne Enright's unblinking eye. It is a novel about love and
disappointment, about how memories warp and secrets fester, and how fate
is written in the body, not in the stars.