Prophet Song by Paul Lynch

The Stack family lives in Dublin, Ireland.  Eilish, the mother, sees over four children, her husband, and her father who lives a few miles away.  She has a teenage son, a teenage daughter, a preteen son and a baby.  Her father is flirting with Alzheimer's disease and needs more and more help.  Her husband is the union representative for the teachers union.   Eilish barely has time to think about politics but things are happening.  A right wing group, almost fascist in purpose, has won at the polls and they are tightening things down.  One night Eilish goes to the door and two men are there from the government to talk with her husband.  He refuses to back down and when he goes to a large protest, he is arrested and imprisoned.

A rebellion forms to fight the government and its repression.  Soon Eilish loses her oldest son who leaves to fight with the rebellion.  Her sister who immigrated to Canada years ago wants Eilish to come with her children and father but Eilish can't imagine leaving everything they have built and not being there when her husband and her son return.  So she stays with her children as food gets short and electricity and water become infrequent.  Her sister sent money so Eilish can buy food when there is stock in the stores.  Soon her second son talks about joining the rebellion and Eilish is losing control of him.  When the fighting comes to Dublin itself and neighborhoods become battlefields, Eilish must decide how to save the children and herself.

I barely know how to write about this book.  It is stunning and prophetic and difficult to read.  Many will relate it to the political discord in the United States but the author in an interview says 'the end of the world is always happening somewhere' and further states that every country he goes to believes that he has told their story.  It is the story about what happens when those in power want more but more importantly, it is the story of human hope and how it can bloom in the worst situations.  This book is recommended for literary fiction readers but it is not an easy read.