By the Lake (Magill’s Literary Annual 1991-2005)
At a glance:
- Author: John McGahern
- First Published: 2002
- Type of Work: Novel
- Time of Work: The present
- Setting: A rural community in what appears to be County Leitrim, Ireland, on the edge of a lake
- Principal Characters: Joseph Ruttledge, Kate Ruttledge, Jamesie Murphy, Mary Murphy, Patrick Ryan, Shah
- Genres: Long fiction
- Subjects: Freedom, Colonialism, Nature, Exile or expatriates, Twenty-first century, Rural or country life, Friendship, Immigration or emigration, Ireland or Irish people, Happiness, Lakes, 2000’s
- Locales: Ireland
Joseph and Kate Ruttledge, advertising executives from London, renounce urban life and move to Ireland seeking quiet and repose. Ruttledge’s uncle, the Shah, a self-made success and resident Croesus, arranges their purchase of a twenty-acre farm on the edge of a lake. The novel details the Ruttledges’ involvement in the lives of a small circle of local inhabitants as they are repeatedly drawn into their domestic and business affairs and asked to intervene in their minor complications.
Much of the narrative focuses on Jamesie and Mary Murphy, an amusing couple who have lived...
[The entire page is 1904 words long]
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