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The Gathering
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The Gathering (2007) (edit title/settings)

by Anne Enright (Author) (edit contributors)

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Description edit see section history

In the taut latest from Enright (What Are You Like?), middle-aged Veronica Hegarty, the middle child in an Irish-Catholic family of nine, traces the aftermath of a tragedy that has claimed the life of rebellious elder brother Liam. As Veronica travels to London to bring Liam's body back to... read more

Summary edit see section history

After the death of one of their siblings, Liam, the remaining members of the large Hegarty family gather at their mother's house in Ireland for his wake and funeral. The novel is narrated by Liam's sister, Veronica, who was closest to him. Most of the book consists of Veronica trying to make... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)

After the death of one of their siblings, Liam, the remaining members of the large Hegarty family gather at their mother's house in Ireland for his wake and funeral. The novel is narrated by Liam's sister, Veronica, who was closest to him. Most of the book consists of Veronica trying to make sense of her family's past in order to solve her own identity crisis; however, since she can only speculate about much of her family's history, neither the reader nor Veronica can really know what is true and what is imagined.

Characters/People edit see section history

  • Veronica Hegarty: Narrator of the story. We see the Hegarty clan from her eyes. She is the responsible child. Never remembered by her mother but strongly loyal to the family. She was closest to Liam in childhood. As she examines the family history and dynamics she starts to crack at the seams. Her own marriage in an unhappy place, she begins to wonder if she should end it. Is she going mad?
  • Liam: Veronica's brother
  • Ada Merriman: Veronica's grandmother.
  • Charlie Spillane: Ada's husband
  • Lambert Nugent: Supposedly loved Ada.
  • Tom: Veronica's husband.
  • Mammy: Their crazy mother.
  • Michael Weiss: An American. One of Veronica's boyfriends in college.
  • Rebecca Mary: Eldest daughter of Veronica and Tom.
  • Emily Rose: Youngest daughter of Veronica and Tom.
  • Ernest: One of Veronica's brothers. A Catholic priest in Peru.
  • Mossie: One of Veronica's brothers.
  • Ivor: One of Veronica's brothers. Jem's twin.
  • Jem: One of Veronica's brothers. Ivor's twin.
  • Kitty: One of Veronica's sisters.
  • Alice: One of Veronica's sisters.
  • Bea: One of Veronica's sisters.
  • Midge: One of Veronica's sisters. Deceased.
  • Frank Duff: Add a description of this character.
  • Stevie: Hegarty child who died young.
  • Sarah: One of Liam's girlfriends.
Show all 21 characters
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Quotes edit see section history

  • “A drinker does not exist. Whatever they say, it is just the drink talking”
    Veronica Hegarty
  • Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers
  • There are so few people given us to love. I want to tell my daughters this, that each time you fall in love it is important, even at nineteen. Especially at nineteen. And if you can, at nineteen, count the people you love on one hand, you will not, at forty, have run out of fingers on the other. There are so few people given us to love and they all stick.
    Highlighted by 54 Kindle customers
  • We each love someone, even though they will die. And we keep loving them, even when they are not there to love any more. And there is no logic or use to any of this, that I can see.
    Highlighted by 51 Kindle customers
  • People, she used to think, do not change, they are merely revealed.
    Highlighted by 49 Kindle customers
  • most of the stuff that you do is just stupid, really stupid, most of the stuff you do is just nagging and whining and picking up for people who are too lazy even to love you, even that, let alone find their own shoes under their own bed; people who turn and accuse you – scream at you sometimes – when they can only find one shoe.
    Highlighted by 45 Kindle customers
  • There is something wonderful about a death, how everything shuts down, and all the ways you thought you were vital are not even vaguely important.
    Highlighted by 44 Kindle customers
  • We do not always like the people we love – we do not always have that choice.
    Highlighted by 36 Kindle customers
  • I do not think we remember our family in any real sense. We live in them, instead.
    Highlighted by 32 Kindle customers
  • This is what shame does. This is the anatomy and mechanism of a family – a whole fucking country – drowning in shame.
    Highlighted by 23 Kindle customers
  • Usually, people’s brothers become less important, over time. Liam decided not to do this. He decided to stay important, to the end.
    Highlighted by 19 Kindle customers
  • I am a trembling mess from hip to knee. There is a terrible heat, a looseness in my innards that makes me want to dig my fists between my thighs. It is a confusing feeling – somewhere between diarrhoea and sex – this grief that is almost genital.
    Highlighted by 10 Kindle customers
Show all 11 quotes from this book

First Sentence edit see section history

I would like to write down what happened in my grandmother's house the summer I was eight or nine, but I am not sure if it really did happen.

Table of Contents edit see section history

This book has 39 untitled chapters.

Series & Lists edit see section history

This is book 2007 of 47 in Booker Prize Winners. (authoritative list)
This book is in Guardian 1000 Novels Everyone Must Read. (authoritative list)
This is book 9 of 1286 in 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (authoritative list)

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Anne Enright (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: Black Cat
Country: Ireland
Publication Date: September 10, 2007
ISBN: 0802170390
Page Count: 260

Classification edit see section history

  • Library of Congress: PR6055.N73 G38
  • Dewey: 823.914

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