Set in Stone
Page 28
Thanks to the winning combination – in all senses – of Davy Adamson and Cormac Kinsella, and to Michelle Taylor and Katie James.
And thanks, too, to Roddy Doyle, for so many things over the years, including the patient reading of manuscripts.
A letter from the author
Dear Reader,
I have always been drawn to the same themes: the complexity of family and the deep ties of friendship. I think that friendship has sustained me, more than anything else, down through the years.
When I imagined Lynda, and the challenges she was going to face in the course of the novel, I deliberately isolated her from any friends she might have. I wanted her solitariness to increase, so that the aura of menace that Danny brought with him became all the more potent. She was drawn further and further into the web of her husband’s past. Struggle all she might, Lynda was unable to escape until the past was fully confronted and exorcised.
I really like to write about this theatre of the family: the drama, the conflict, the scenes of love and betrayal. I find it fascinating, for instance, to hear members of the same family discussing an event in their past: either a moment of celebration or one of crisis. Memories vary so much that I’ve often wondered whether people are recalling the same event, the same siblings, the same parents.
And in many ways, they are not: psychologists believe that each child – just like Robert, Danny and Emma – has ‘different’ parents – because things cannot stay the same when the family dynamic changes. I wanted to explore that dynamic in Set in Stone. I also wanted to see what happens when the natural disparity in people’s memories becomes transformed into something more sinister.
For example, there is one significant event around Emma – this is the catalyst that breaks the family apart. Danny, however, reinterprets – or ‘re-remembers’ – that event in order to suit his own purposes. With Danny – and with Robert, in a different way – I wanted to look at how denial can become a destructive force in our closest relationships.
But above all, the Grahams are an ordinary family. An ‘ordinary’ family in an ‘ordinary’ setting: but one driven by extraordinary events to learn to understand themselves, and each other, better.
I hope you enjoyed it.
Discussion Points for Book Clubs
SECRETS
* Set in Stone shows how secrets can affect a family and its internal relationships, whether it’s between wife and husband or between children and their parents.
* How does Lynda’s affair with Ken affect her relationship with Robert and her two children? Although it has never been spoken about, how do family members know about the affair? At what point does this unspoken secret of the past resurface?
* Is it clear why Robert keeps his ailing business a secret from Lynda? Psychologists often say that more relationships break up over money than they do as a result of infidelity, particularly when one partner’s recklessness is responsible for the debts accrued. Why is this a common occurrence in relationships? Is there ever any situation where a secret from a partner is acceptable?
* Finally, Lynda struggles with the teenage Ciarán’s need for secrecy. Where should a parent draw the line over children’s need for privacy as they grow older? What if you suspect your child is in trouble of some form? Is safety always the priority or is earning their trust equally important?
* It is interesting to note that Lynda does not have any friends to confide in about her fears over Danny’s return, Robert’s distance or Ciarán’s misbehaviour.
REINVENTING ONESELF
* Lynda has reinvented herself – leaving the safety of a teaching career to branch out on her own and go into garden and jewellery design.
* Is this becoming more of a phenomenon in today’s society? The impetus can be the approach of a significant birthday, a change in the home, for example children becoming adult and leaving the nest, or a more traumatic experience such as the death of a loved one or the end of a long-term relationship.
* Jon has obviously reinvented himself in the novel too – can you understand why Lynda is so accepting of his presence in the house? Would you have done anything differently?
Acclaim for Set in Stone
‘Immensely readable and compelling fiction . . . Dunne manages to combine emotional intelligence with an absorbing, cleverly woven plot . . . Her legions of fans should certainly enjoy this elegantly written page-turner’
Irish Times
And for Catherine Dunne
‘From page one the reader is won over . . . Brimming with raw emotion’
Bookseller
‘Dunne’s dialogue is deft, her writing sings’
She
‘An outrageously good read’
Irish Post
‘Warm, funny, persistent, poignant and feisty . . . [Catherine Dunne] is a fine story-teller’
Irish Independent
CATHERINE DUNNE is the author of six previous novels (In the Beginning, A Name for Himself, The Walled Garden, Another Kind of Life, Something Like Love and At a Time Like This). She has also written about Irish immigration in An Unconsidered People. All of her work has been published to both critical and popular acclaim. The novels have struck a chord in several countries and have been translated into many languages and optioned for film. Catherine Dunne lives near Dublin.
ALSO BY CATHERINE DUNNE
In the Beginning
A Name for Himself
The Walled Garden
An Unconsidered People
Another Kind of Life
Something Like Love
At a Time Like This
First published 2009 by Macmillan
This edition published 2010 by Pan Books
This electronic edition published 2010 by Pan Books
an imprint of Pan Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
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ISBN 978-0-330-53288-4 PDF
ISBN 978-0-330-53287-7 EPUB
Copyright © Catherine Dunne 2009
The right of Catherine Dunne to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
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