Set in the fictional town of Mellick, Ireland, the focus of Kate O'Brien's "The Ante Room" is on the trials, tribulations and mental tortures of a late 19th century wealthy Catholic Family. The book, set in three parts, tells of a three day period in the lives of the Mulqueens, father Danny, a director of Considines shipping dock, mother Teresa, bedridden with terminal cancer, son Reggie, plagued with untreatable syphilis but still the apple of his Irish mother's eye, and sisters Marie-Rose, a beautiful, arrogant but immature girl married to the well heeled Vincent DeCourcy O'Regan and Agnes, the central character who is emotionally anxious and apprehensive.

While the central theme of Teresa's impending death is the string that pulls the book along, the numerous subplots of forbidden love (Agnes and Vincent), lost love (Marie-Rose and Vincent), scorned love (Dr. Curran and Agnes) as well as Agnes dealing...