Summary

Chapter 27 follows Maureen as she wakes in the middle of the night and decides to go for a walk. She contemplates being left in the past by her parents, the clergy, and Ireland. She resents that no one knows that the church she burned down was destroyed due to a “political motivation” (382). Maureen “had no energy left for devilment, not now she knew how much her son got up to on her behalf, behind her back” (383). Maureen walks to the old brothel and sees Ryan seemingly about to jump from the gutted building. She gets him to follow her, noting how similar to Tony he looks. She tells Ryan that his job “has plenty to do with wanting to drown [himself],” and sets herself to redeem him for the ruination Cork brought upon her (388). Ryan despairs that “I had something...