Michael Cumiskey

An Undiscovered Country Michael Cumiskey

Initially the context of the story is the conflict in Ireland and in some ways the troubles

of Lorna and her family reflect that situation. Lorna Donnelly is the eldest in a family

of four children: Catholics living in a Loyalist region of Belfast. The story originates at the

time of the first IRA ceasefire and culminates about the time of the Peace Accord some

37 years later. Mr. Donnelly is killed by the IRA and his wife decides to migrate with

her children to England. She meets and marries Jimmy Ungerside, a butcher. Jimmy is a

serial child abuser and to varying degrees the whole family suffer at his hands, especially

Lorna. The effect on the girl's development and later on her career is seen as an echo in

tandem of the 'Troubles' The same is also true of her sister and two brothers. Each chapter

includes a contemporaneous news report and an excerpt from Lorna's diary each linked

by some similar notion of abuse. Lorna eventually marries but the episodes that torment

her psychology continue despite concentrated periods of treatment. It is not until she is

made aware of another significant cause that there is finally some hope of real recovery.