The following edition of the text was used in the creation of this study guide: Enright, Anne. The Wren, The Wren. Penguin Random House, 2023. Kindle AZW file.

Nell, a recent college graduate in Dublin, had a love for nature and birds, which set her apart from her politically-minded friends, Lily and Mal. After moving into a house-share, she met Felim at a bar and later started a relationship with him. Though initially infatuated, Nell began to notice troubling behavior, such as Felim messaging others and being controlling during sex. Despite warnings from Lily and her own discomfort, she continued seeing him. Nell reflected on her strained relationship with her mother, Carmel, who had been unsympathetic to her childhood struggles. She remembered reading her late grandfather Phil McDaragh’s poetry about nature and birds. After an argument with Felim following a family christening, Nell had a one-night stand. The opening chapter ends with her continuing an unsatisfying relationship with Felim and a love poem by her grandfather.

The next chapter follows Nell’s mother, Carmel. Her father, the poet Phil McDaragh, had abandoned the family after her mother, Terry, was diagnosed with breast cancer, leaving 12-year-old Carmel and her older sister Imelda to care for her. Carmel recalled Phil’s chaotic presence, including a disturbing incident when he frantically searched for a lost watch after leaving them. Imelda, left in charge, was often short-tempered and violent toward Carmel. Carmel reflected on her parents’ relationship, from Phil’s romantic poems to Terry when they first met to the financial struggles after his abandonment. As an adult, Carmel had seen Phil’s success as a poet on TV but resented his neglect. After Phil’s death, Carmel had been angered by a funeral eulogy that ignored his desertion of his family. She also resented the presence at the funeral of his young American wife Connie. Carmel later moved to Italy, became an English teacher, and had a falling out with a friend after sleeping with her ex-boyfriend. Returning home, Carmel had felt stifled by her unchanged family life. After Terry’s death, Imelda inherited the house while Carmel’s inheritance was going to be used to settle Phil’s debts, sparking a violent fight between the sisters. Carmel started a language school in Dublin, became pregnant after a fling with a student, and never told him about the baby. When Nell was born, Carmel felt, for the first time, that she was no longer alone.

Nell worried she might be pregnant after realizing her period was late. She recalled having sex with Felim seven times in four months. When her period started, she felt relief. A week later, Felim visited and took a naked photo of her without permission, upsetting Nell. She discovered he had similar photos of other women. After sex, Felim questioned the nature of their relationship, but Nell remained silent. Feeling depressed after not hearing from him, Nell worried he might have shared her photos online. Carmel invited Nell to dinner, where they bickered. Nell later asked for money to travel and got a tattoo of a line from one of Phil’s poems.

Carmel recalled introducing her boyfriend Ronan to 9-year-old Nell. Nell grew attached to Ronan, making Carmel uneasy. Ronan admired Phil’s poetry and attended an event honoring him with Carmel, Nell, and Imelda, where Imelda’s speech about their parents’ love annoyed Carmel. Ronan later asked Carmel for help after a hospital procedure, but his reliance on her felt burdensome. After his recovery, Ronan declared he had been thinking of her, but their relationship ended shortly after due to Carmel’s resentment of the expectation she would care for him while he was unwell. Following the breakup, Carmel renovated her kitchen. During a fight with Nell, Carmel accused her of breaking a lamp in the new kitchen, lost her temper, and threw a bowl of oranges at Nell. Though they reconciled, Carmel was shocked by her own behavior, and they never discussed the incident again.

A chapter told from Phil’s perspective recalled his childhood: the local priest mentored him, and he believed in fairies. He wished a girl at his school named Hanorah Casey would notice him, and soon after, she asked for his help picking flowers. Phil witnessed and was disturbed by badger baiting organized by his father. Later, Hanorah’s father punished her for walking with Phil by cutting her hair. At school, Phil joined in with the other children mocking her newly shorn haircut.

Nell visited friends and traveled through London, Norfolk, Paris, and Utrecht. While dog-sitting in Norfolk, she struggled with depression but avoided suicidal actions because of her responsibility for the dog. In Paris, she took a non-consensual photo of a man she was with and sent it to Felim. After an argument, the man comforted her. In Utrecht, she admitted to a friend that Felim had been coercive and had a panic attack climbing a church tower. Inspired, she started a travel blog for anxious travelers, beginning with a post about visiting the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

Carmel, in her fifties, recalled seeing Phil interviewed on TV years earlier and searched for the video online. She watched it reluctantly, upset by Phil’s dismissal of Terry’s illness as the cause of their marriage’s failure. Phil read “The Wren, The Wren,” a poem dedicated to Carmel, and discussed other women he had loved. Carmel discovered one, Selma Karras, who later described Phil as abusive. Watching the interview again, Carmel noticed Phil wearing the watch he had once searched for in Terry’s bed. She called Imelda, who claimed to remember nothing about it. The chapter ended with Nell texting Carmel to say she was returning to Ireland and bringing someone with her.

Nell reflected on a letter read at an event celebrating Phil’s work, which praised the love between Phil and Terry. While traveling, Nell got a tattoo of a wren in Sydney and realized Felim had been an abuser. In New Zealand, she kissed a friend on a ferry, and they became a couple, traveling back to Europe together. Watching Phil’s interview, Nell recognized his creepiness for the first time, regretted her tattoo of his poetry, and wished she had listened to Carmel. The narrative shifts to a letter from Connie, Phil’s second wife, encouraging Nell to apply for an artist residency tied to Phil’s estate. Connie shared that Selma Karras had told her Phil had abused her, and Connie believed her. She expressed admiration for Phil’s poetry but emphasized the need to acknowledge his flaws, honoring Selma by naming a program for female artists after her.

Nell returned to Dublin with her partner, David, surprising Carmel. Carmel initially judged David but softened after Nell threatened to leave. Listening to Nell and David chatting, Carmel realized Nell had matured into the confident person she had once been as a child. In the final chapter, Nell saw a bird in Carmel’s garden and, recalling a line from Phil’s poetry, decided she didn’t need to describe it, she could just allow it to be what it was.