Summary

Note: Eoin's mother is also named Anne Gallagher. For clarity in this guide, Eoin's mother is always referred to as Anne Finnegan Gallagher. Any mention of Anne without that full name is referring to Eoin's granddaughter.

The Prologue is set in November of 1976. Anne Gallagher asks her grandfather, Eoin Gallagher, to tell her about his mother. Anne asks if Eoin misses his mother. He says he no longer does because “she is still with me” (3). He insists Anne stop crying, saying he cannot hear the singing of the wind over her noise. He says “the wind and water know all the earth's secrets” (4), and agrees that Anne and Eoin belong together.

Chapter 1 is titled “Ephemera” and opens with lines from W.B. Yeats' poem by that title. This chapter opens from Anne's perspective in 2001. She talks about her grandfather's history. Eoin was...