Harrowing and heartbreaking. I'll probably gush about this book in the future, and eventually upgrade it to my favourites shelf. But I still don't believe I can reasonably give it more than 4 stars. I was so focused on the main characters, the main plotline, that I probably didn't pay as much attention to the peripheral characters and historical context as I should have. It could be difficult and quite frustrating to read, with an in-and-out stream of consciousness style and Irish dialect. But it's worth the struggle for the tragic love story at it's core.
