Book Review of Booker Prize-longlisted Prophet Song by Irish writer Paul Lynch

A three-year-old washes up on a beach while his family is trying to flee a war. Moved by events like the conflict in Syria, the plight of refugees, and the West’s deep-rooted indifference, Irish writer Paul Lynch juxtaposes these happenings onto his own country to find out what it will be like to experience such a possibility first-hand, in his Booker-longlisted fiction, Prophet Song. “It is nothing to worry about,” the two men tell her, but Eilish can’t shake off the feeling that “something has come into the house… she can see it skulking alongside her as she steps through the living room past the children”. Their eldest son, Mark, joins the rebels who try to push back against the government, and yet little will change when a temporary takeover happens: one forceful unit replaces another and Eilish can’t help observing that she “wanted the regime out but not to be replaced by more of the same”. She also knows that it is an old idea — “If you say one thing is another thing and you say it enough times, then it must be so, and if you keep saying it over and over people accept it as true.” She has to make difficult choices in the face of unfathomable tragedy and clings on to snatches of hope.