The Fields

First published 2013

Desmond Elliott 2013 · Longlist

Set in 1980s Dublin and London, THE FIELDS tells the vividly evocative story of Jim Finnegan’s unfairly interrupted adolescence. I slept right through to the next day. Missed the funeral and everything. Mam said it was just as well. Would’ve been too upsetting. I think of him now, though. Right at this moment. Here in this kitchen. And I wonder if it could’ve been different. Dublin, 1984: Ireland is a divided country, the Parish Priest remains a figure of immense authority and Jim Finnegan is thirteen years old, the youngest in a family of five sisters.

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Life in Jim’s world consists of dealing with his rumbustious family, taking breakneck bike rides with his best friend, and quietly coveting the local girls from afar. But during the Donohues raucous annual party, Jim captures both the attention of the beautiful Saidhbh and the unwanted desires of the devious and dangerous Father Luke O’Culigeen. Bounced between his growing love for Saidhbh and his need to avoid the dreaded O’Culigeen, Jim’s life starts to unravel.