Reading in the Dark

Stairs, February 1945

When we first meet the novel’s narrator, a young boy in an Irish Catholic family, he is climbing the stairs. His mother warns him to go back down because there is “somebody there” (3). She means that she sees a ghost, but the boy does not see or sense anything. 

Disappearances, September 1945

The narrator describes the structure of his large family. His oldest sibling, Eilis, is four years older than him, while Liam is two years older. The narrator has four younger siblings, whose ages are spaced out in “one-year or two-year steps” (6).

The narrator comments on two instances of disappearances. The first relates to a belief that fairies walk among humans and are intent on stealing children. The second relates to an experience the narrator has at Duffy Circus. There, he sees a magician, Mr. Bamboozelem, make a series of objects disappear before finally disappearing himself.  

Eddie, November 1945

During a difficult winter, the family’s boiler breaks, and the narrator’s uncles arrive to help repair it. While working, they tell many stories. One relates to one of the narrator’s uncles, Eddie, who disappeared in April 1922 after a shoot-out between the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and the police. Some believe Eddie is dead, while others believe he escaped. The narrator’s father does not comment on Eddie’s disappearance.

The uncles also tell a story about an exorcism. In the story, a sailor’s wife is unfaithful, so the couple splits up. First the sailor dies, and then his wife’s lover dies on a staircase. Finally, the wife dies too. No one is able to enter her house except for Father Browne, a Catholic priest who specializes in exorcism. Inside the house, he traps a spirit in a window pane and drips wax on the bolt, warning that no one should ever open it lest the spirit escape.

Accident, June 1948

The narrator sees a young boy killed by a lorry on the street. He feels sympathy for the policeman who tends to him, and “for months, I kept seeing the lorry reversing” (11). 

Feet, September 1948

The narrator’s sister Una is sick with meningitis. Medics come to the family’s house and carry Una out on a stretcher. The narrator notes that Una “was going to die after they took her to the hospital” (12). The family mourns Una during her funeral.

A few weeks later, the narrator visits the cemetery where Una is buried to put fresh flowers on her grave. He says her name to himself, and then he sees her coming down the path, explaining “Even as I said her name, she wasn’t there” (17). The narrator tells Liam about this bizarre incident, and Liam tells him not to reveal what he saw to anyone. 

Reading in the Dark, October 1948

The narrator reads his first novel, The Shan Van Vocht. In Irish, the title means “The Poor Old Woman,” a moniker for Ireland (19). The novel describes the rebellion of 1798, and the narrator becomes very involved with the story and its characters.

At school, the narrator’s teacher, Brother Regan, reads an essay by a “country boy,” which narrates the sort of story that the narrator’s family would discuss at their dinner table (21).

Grandfather, December 1948

The narrator’s teacher tells his class a story that took place 25 years ago. In the story, two men are crossing a bridge and then kill a plain-clothes policeman, Billy Mahon. The two men claim that they murdered the policeman to avenge Neil McLaughlin, a civilian who was recently murdered by the police. To find the policeman’s murderer, the police apprehend an unnamed man, who was a friend of Neil’s. The man is assumed to be innocent, and the police let him go after questioning him. Without making an official confession, the man confides in a priest, claiming that he did, in fact, kill the policeman and that he feels no remorse.

At home, the narrator learns that the story is supposedly about his own grandfather. But the narrator rejects this idea, claiming “it was just folklore” (27). Later, it becomes clear that his grandfather is the unnamed man in the story.  

Pistol, January 1949

The narrator’s father is given a gun by a German soldier, and the narrator takes the gun out to show his friends. A neighbor sees the gun, and the narrator hides it in a stone trench. The police come to search the house, and it is “splintered open” (29). The narrator, his father, and Liam are taken to the police station for questioning. There, the police beat them with truncheons.