Siobhan Dowd – Bog Child

This novel takes place at the time of the early 1980s, against the context of the troubled relations between Northern and Southern Ireland; the aftermath of the death of IRA member Bobby Sands; as well as a further period of IRA terrorist attacks. What makes this novel crucially different from other works of fiction is that these issues are not necessarily central to the novel. Whilst they are evidently there, the real focus is on the life of troubled eighteen year old Fergus, a teenager soon to take his A-level exams. However, the seeming mundane tranquillity of his life (a routine that consists of running, revision and socializing) is halted upon the discovery of a dead child on the southern/ Northern Ireland border. As well, tensions further arise when it is revealed that Fergus has a brother in prison for pro- IRA activities, who is also considering a hunger strike in protest for the prisoners. Further complications and fears arise when Fergus is given a job of delivering packages across the border, eliciting a suspicion within himself that this equipment is for the IRA.

The novel’s setting is expertly judged, taking place at the border of Northern and Southern Ireland creating a sense of tension from the start. Dowd expertly mixes the tense and mundane in the first few chapters as Fergus journeys across the border and a variety of cultural clashes and differences amongst the people of the two borders are provoked, particularly at the finding of the dead girl against the seemingly anti-hostility natural environment of the countryside. In fact, the novel is bathed in this kind of interesting irony, particularly when Dowd contrasts the seeming ordinariness of Fergus’s home life with his worries of being complicit with IRA terrorism with his deliveries. Part of the great skill of the novel is highlighting terrorisms’ easy infiltration into domestic life and how the people behind it are notably humanised and given relatable routines and relationships.

Dowd ultimately makes the story more interesting by unfolding a relevant yet alternate background story of the novel which operates in parallel to the storylines of the main characters. The body of the girl found near the beginning is discovered to be that of a dwarf from circa AD80(hopefully, this will not come as a spoiler as it is an early development within the novel.) The body has been so well preserved due to the cold and damp setting of the bog. The dreamlike flashbacks of the dead girl’s life in AD80 run in counterpart to Fergus’s life and though something of a contrived set up, it draws intriguing comparisons particularly a subtle parallel between the child’s discrimination of being a dwarf juxtaposed to the ignoring of Fergus’s brother Joe’s attempts to plea for IRA prisoners to wear their own clothes through his hunger strike. Dowd injects a humanising quality to all the characters’ lives through these flashbacks.

But the real character who engages is Fergus. Under pressure to achieve in exams as well as suffering from the political climate his brother also suffers in, he is the most sympathetic presence. Particularly as he is almost in every chapter and a character we feel we truly know by the novel’s end. His emotions provide an entry point into the world of the novel and further help the reader engage with what may seem a complicated political context.

It is also vital to note that Bog Child is aimed at the teenage reader, yet the novel also crucially manages to transcend these age constraints through to adults with its intense, relevant and emotional story.

Overall, Bog Child is a highly involving novel which provides a sympathetic and engaging central character. Whilst parts the novel are contrived, it eventually manages to coalesce into a powerful and layered whole as a novel about terrorism, family and its political context.