Booker Prize Winner

The Gathering

by Anne Enright

Summary

Veronica Hegarty travels to Dublin for the wake of her brother Liam, whose suicide forces her to revisit a childhood incident in their grandmother's house that she has never quite been able to name. Enright writes in a flinty, intimate voice that probes the silences and rituals of a large Irish family. The novel is a cool, fierce study of memory, denial, and inherited damage.

Historical Context & Significance

Enright's win was considered a victory for high literary fiction over more commercial favorites.