Tribute to a writer

ON hearing of the death of John McGahern, I reread The Barracks. It had been several years since I last read it, but I found it to be just as poignant and vibrant as when I first picked it up.

Since I heard the news that morning, I felt a sensation of loss hanging around me, even though I had never met the man. When I turned the last page of The Barracks, and sat in the quiet of the living room, I knew what I was feeling was grief. Grief at the silencing of a great chronicler.

May God grant him rest, and comfort to his family.