Dimensions
152 x 233 x 22mm
Michen O'Kane has lost his mother as a boy and, by the age of ten, is incarcerated for petty crimes in juvenile detention centres, 'the places named after saints'. But his problems go beyond early loss and sexual abuse - the killing instinct is already kindled in him. He is named by fearful neighbours the Kinderschreck, someone of whom small children are afraid.
As in Greek tragedy, 'In The Forest' centres on unwitting victims for sacrifice - a radiant young woman, her little son, and a trusting priest, all despatched to the wilderness of O'Kane's unbridled, deranged fantasies.
Taken from events that still resonate aftershocks in this part of Ireland, Edna O'Brien's riveting, frightening and brilliantly told new novel reminds us that anything can happen 'outside the boundary of mother and child' when protection isn't afforded to either perpetrator or victim.
