Introduction

A fearless portrait of a society on the brink as a mother faces a terrible choice, from an internationally award-winning author

On a dark, wet evening in Dublin, scientist and mother-of-four Eilish Stack answers her front door to find the GNSB on her step. Two officers from Ireland’s newly formed secret police are here to interrogate her husband, a trade unionist.

Ireland is falling apart. The country is in the grip of a government turning towards tyranny and Eilish can only watch helplessly as the world she knew disappears. When first her husband and then her eldest son vanish, Eilish finds herself caught within the nightmare logic of a collapsing society.

How far will she go to save her family? And what – or who – is she willing to leave behind?

Exhilarating, terrifying and propulsive, Prophet Song is a work of breathtaking originality, offering a devastating vision of a country at war and a deeply human portrait of a mother’s fight to hold her family together.

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Discussion Questions

From the Booker Prize:

1. Prophet Song begins with two epigraphs: one from the Bible, a quote from Ecclesiastes 1:9; followed by one from Bertolt Brecht, the German playwright and poet. What is their significance, and why has Paul Lynch chosen these to open the novel?

2. Prophet Song is written with an unusual structure. The sentences are long and the author eschews the use of paragraphs. Why do you think he has chosen to write the story in this manner? Is it successful in creating atmosphere around the reading experience?

3. The story is told from Eilish’s perspective and stays close to her throughout, yet there are no dialogue markers in the text, with Lynch choosing to avoid use of quotation marks. ‘He looks up and shakes his head and says, maybe you’re right, Eilish, this is not the time, it is madness to go ahead, I’ll give them a call, tell them I’m out sick.’ (Page 28). How does this style of prose serve the story? Does it allow you to see the story through Eilish’s eyes? 

4. Prophet Song is set in a dystopian Ireland which is slowly sinking into authoritarian rule. What places and events may have served as inspiration for the novel? And why do you think the author chose to root the novel in a Western country with a democratically elected government, rather than somewhere more volatile? Is Ireland a believable location for the events described in the book?

5. The Booker judges said the novel captures ‘the social and political anxieties of our moment’. To what extent do you think the novel is prescient, and do you think it is intended to be read as a cautionary tale? 

6. ‘You need to relax, the GNSB are not the Stasi, they are just applying a little pressure, that is all,’ Larry tells Eilish at an early point in the story (page 28). Where does the irony lie in this statement with references to the Stasi, the secret police force of East Germany? And to what extent do you think the characters cling to the belief that a country as civilised as theirs could never descend into such a terrifying situation?

7. ‘The south of this city will be put to siege and the military will turn this place into hell, they will pound the rebels into submission, you’ll becut off from the world, from supplies, none of what I tell you is a secret, you have children to think of, you have an elderly father who is in need of medical Care.’ (Page 212). Elish is a woman dedicated to, and immensely protective of her family and children. What battles is she facing, and what may be prohibiting her from leaving Dublin, despite being told by multiple sources she should now leave the city?  

8. ‘History is a silent record of people who did not know when to leave.’ (Page 103). Áine, Elish’s sister tells her this while trying to get her to journey to Canada with the children. What historical events might she be referring to, and why does she deem it a ‘silent’ record?

9. Much of the novel offers a commentary on our cultural desensitisation to real-world events, including war, due to over-saturation by the media. What purpose does the media serve in the novel, and do you agree this may be the case?

10. In an interview with the Booker Prizes website, Paul Lynch said ‘I was trying to see into the modern chaos. The unrest in Western democracies. The problem of Syria – the implosion of an entire nation, the scale of its refugee crisis and the West’s indifference. […] I was aware while writing this book that I was addressing, in part, a modern problem: why are we in the West so short on empathy for the refugees flooding towards our borders? Prophet Song is partly an attempt at radical empathy. To understand better, we must first experience the problem for ourselves.’ Discuss the impact of the novel on you in relation to this quote from Lynch - did it make you feel differently about the plight of refugees elsewhere in the world?

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