- Paperback: 144 pages
- Publisher: Early English Text Society (7 May 2009)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0198310870
- ISBN-13: 978-0198310877
- Product Dimensions: 21.4 x 16.6 x 1 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 200,531 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Book Description
The extraordinary story of one long summer in the life of an 18-year-old boy caught up in the chaos and conflict of Ireland in the 1980s.
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
Product Description
Digging for peat in the mountain with his Uncle Tally, Fergus finds something that makes his heart stop. Curled up deep in the bog is the body of a child. And it looks like she's been murdered. As Fergus tries to make sense of the mad world around him - his brother on hunger-strike in prison, his growing feelings for Cora, his mam and da arguing over the Troubles, and him in it up to the neck - a little voice comes to him in his dreams, and the mystery of the bog child unfurls...
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
66 of 67 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
As an English teacher, I like to try and keep abreast of what is being read by some of my students and happened upon Dowd's first book, 'A Swift Pure Cry' in our school library. Having loved her debut I returned eagerly to our librarian to see if we had anything else and found 'Bog Child'. Having spent a few of my childhood years in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, I'm always wary of authors' attempts to recreate history without bias. However, Dowd has penned a stunning tapestry of stories, delicately interweaving the lives of its characters against a backdrop of hatred, fear and sorrow. Not since 'A Gathering Light' have I found myself so eagerly turning the pages of teenage fiction, desperate to learn the answer to its mysteries. Dowd's main character, Fergus McCann, is a young man torn apart by hopes and dreams, struggling with the beliefs of his family and country. His own journey to freedom is utterly captivating and I particularly loved that the reader never knows more than he does - we discover the answers together.
I was utterly devastated to read that Dowd died shortly after completing this novel but am confident that she has left behind a stunning piece of fiction that will enthrall readers, both young and old, for years to come.
I was utterly devastated to read that Dowd died shortly after completing this novel but am confident that she has left behind a stunning piece of fiction that will enthrall readers, both young and old, for years to come.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Deservedly shortlisted for a major fiction prize, this novel for teenagers about the troubles in Northern Ireland was complex and beautifully delicate. Fergus is an eighteen year old boy, studying hard to get the grades required to leave Northern Ireland and become a Doctor. His summer is disrupted when his older brother is arrested and put in the Maze prison as a political prisoner. It is never entirely clear what the brother has done, but he embarks on a hunger strike with his fellow prisoners and as Fergus grows into adulthood very quickly, discovering an Iron age body in a peat bog, getting a new girlfriend and learning to drive, his brother starts to waste away.
Fergus dreams of the peat bog woman, and his dreams foreshadow and become interwoven with the complexities of his life as he is forced to take sides, make a stand and learn how to be a man.
There are no easy answers in this text, and much is left deliberately ambiguous and 'grey', but this is like life itself, difficult, demanding and messy.
Sensitively written and all the more powerful for it.
Fergus dreams of the peat bog woman, and his dreams foreshadow and become interwoven with the complexities of his life as he is forced to take sides, make a stand and learn how to be a man.
There are no easy answers in this text, and much is left deliberately ambiguous and 'grey', but this is like life itself, difficult, demanding and messy.
Sensitively written and all the more powerful for it.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Eighteen year old Fergus lives in Ireland in 1981 at the peak of the Troubles consuming his country. Digging for contraband peat early one morning with his Uncle Tally he uncovers the body of a young girl buried in the mud. Dating back to the Iron Age the body has a noose around its neck and seems to have been the victim of brutal execution. But Fergus has his own problems. His brother is on hunger strike in prison, a man he believes to work for a terrorist cell is attempting to recruit him, he's falling in love with Cora the archaeologist's daughter... And on top of all that the voice of the dead girl, Mel, is talking to him in his dreams.
A Carnegie Award winner the posthumously published Bog Child is a work of genius. Beautifully written there are no jarring notes to this tale as it seamlessly balances the harshness of the situation and the strong emotions running through the story. Fergus is an intelligent and likable character destined for better things and does not fit into this world of conflict and hate dominated by the war between the IRA and the British army. His story and Mel's intermingle as the story nears its climax, both characters confronted by mindless and vicious political issues that will require great personal sacrifice on their part. Personal heroism, political conflict and love are just some of the themes dealt with by the writer in a book that resonates with a real passion for life, reinforcing just what a loss Siobhan Dowd is to the world of teenage fiction.
A Carnegie Award winner the posthumously published Bog Child is a work of genius. Beautifully written there are no jarring notes to this tale as it seamlessly balances the harshness of the situation and the strong emotions running through the story. Fergus is an intelligent and likable character destined for better things and does not fit into this world of conflict and hate dominated by the war between the IRA and the British army. His story and Mel's intermingle as the story nears its climax, both characters confronted by mindless and vicious political issues that will require great personal sacrifice on their part. Personal heroism, political conflict and love are just some of the themes dealt with by the writer in a book that resonates with a real passion for life, reinforcing just what a loss Siobhan Dowd is to the world of teenage fiction.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Wonderful
It really is tragic that Siobhan Dowd died so young, such a talented author and I'm certain that she would have gone on to write more wonderful stories. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Lincs Reader
I'm glad I did...
I had to study this book for my OU studies but I'm glad I did. It's beautifully written and very evocative of the 1980s. Read more
Published on 21 May 2010 by M. Mrs Holt
Bog Child
Quite hard to put this book down - incorporated Irish history so there is a realness to the novel that makes it totally absorbing.
Published on 16 Mar 2010 by M. Maeve
Bog Child, Carnegie medal winner
This is a sensitive story about one young mans coming of age in Northern Ireland in the time of the 'troubles'. Read more
Published on 6 Feb 2010 by Jenny Panther
Betrayal or Sacrifice?
This book is about a 17 year old boy,Fergus, living in Dublin. His close relationshiop between him and his Uncle Tally becomes significant when they find a misshapen, child's body... Read more
Published on 12 Aug 2009 by Hazi Wye
Really a subject of interest for children?
I recently read this book as it won the Carnegie award and, as an English teacher, I like to keep abreast of the novels children are enjoying. Read more
Published on 13 July 2009 by Mrs. M. C. Holloway
Another country
Siobhan has recreated the world of the Nationalist community in Northern Ireland, where escape was hindered by family, history and loyalty. Read more
Published on 2 Jun 2009 by Michael Martin
:)
This book is about a boy who discovers an iron age girls body in the bogs near where he lives. Part of the story is about how she died. Read more
Published on 27 Nov 2008 by Sidebotham
A Super Read
I bought this book for my teenager son to encourage him to read. If it is not sport or top gear he is not interested. I will keep working on him to read this book. Read more
Published on 8 Mar 2008 by Rose Ryan-George
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