Remembrance Sunday

Simon Hanlon is 15 years old in 1987 when he and his father attend the Remembrance Sunday Parade in Enniskillen when the IRA bomb goes off. He survives the blast but experiences seizures which disappear only to return over thirty years later when he is living New York. As he waits for an operation that could render him unable to form memories or emotions, Simon tries to understand what links his fifteen-year-old and forty-eight-year-old selves, and what it is that has made his seizures return.Questioning the notion of who we are, what we can know, and how we struggle to understand not only our own lives but the lives of others, Remembrance Sunday explores the legacy of violence and grief. What makes a person want to harm another and how can we begin to understand our capacity for violence? Moving between New York City’s China Town to the border farms of Northern Ireland, this is a moving and unforgettable novel about love, empathy and the weight of history on a young life.***PRAISE FOR DARRAGH MCKEON “A startling achievement . . . McKeon’s characters may already have receded into history, but by imprinting their triumphs and tragedies onto the imagination with such visceral empathy, he has given them a deserving afterlife in this powerful novel’ New York Times Book Review on All That Is Solid Melts into Air’This daring and ambitious novel blends historical epic and love story . . . Darragh McKeon handles the struggles of his characters with care and compassion and creates a book rich with resonance far beyond its historical moment’ Colm Tóibín on All That Is Solid Melts into Air’All That Is Solid Melts into Air is a debut to rattle all the windows and open up the ventricles of the heart . . . McKeon is here to stay’ Colum McCann]]>