Death in the Family (1957), by James Agee, is the tragic tale of the effect of a man's death on his family.

Edna O'Brien's novel House of Splendid Isolation (1994) focuses on the relationship between an Irish widow and an escaped Irish Republican Army gunman who has taken refuge in her home.

Lavin's The House in Clewe Street (1945) chronicles the coming of age of a young man in Ireland.

“The Demon Lover,” (1955) one of the most popular stories by the Irish writer Elizabeth Bowen, focuses on a woman whose lover is killed in the war.