At the time of Land Without Stars, World War II casts darkness over the British Isles. While Northern Ireland's soldiers fight with Britain against Germany, the Republic of Ireland remains neutral. The novel, then, chronicles perhaps nine months in the lives of two brothers who, at the beginning, return to their Northern Ireland home for the Christmas holidays. Davy Quinn arrives from the North, his brother Peter from the South, both to find the town crouching behind blackout blinds. (p. 54)

Dissension between brothers, which is at once the most dramatic and disheartening aspect of civil war, provides in Land Without Stars the clearest insight into the character of Ireland; like many of their countrymen, the ideals of Davy and Peter Quinn are as sharply different as their personalities are. (p. 57)

In presenting the conflicting viewpoints of Davy and Peter, Kiely in this novel approaches the objectivity of his...