The Barracks | The Barracks

At a glance:

Author: John McGahern
First Published: 1963
Type of Work: Novel
Type of Plot: Social realism
Time of Work: Late 1940’s
Setting: Western Ireland; Dublin, Ireland; and London, England
Genres: Long fiction, Psychological fiction, Social realism
Subjects: Children, Family or family life, Self-discovery, Love or romance, Rural or country life, Doctors, Cancer, Adultery, Death or dying, London, Ireland or Irish people, Joy or sorrow, Tumors
Locales: London, England, Dublin, Ireland

Elizabeth Reegan, a former nurse, forty years old, now married to a sergeant in the Irish police force. She is stepmother to his three children. After a nursing career in London during World War II and a passionate love affair that does not work out, Elizabeth returns to western Ireland and marries against her family’s advice. the novel covers the year during which she suspects, confirms, and fails to live through cancer. The real issue, however, is not Elizabeth’s physical cancer but the cancer of her growing conviction that life is essentially without...

The Barracks | The Barracks

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