A review by silverliningsandpages
A Ghost In The Throat by Doireann Ní Ghríofa

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

A Ghost in the Throat is a beguiling, fervent blend of auto-fiction, essay, investigation and translation.  In this innovative prose debut Doireann Ní Ghríofa entwines the experiences of two writers three centuries apart.

1700s

A Irish noblewoman, who discovers that her husband has been murdered, drinks handfuls of his blood and composes a remarkable poem of sorrow and fury.

Present day

A young mother comes dangerously close to tragedy.  She discovers Eibhlín Dubh’s poetry, and becomes fixated with the parallels in her own life.  Feeling a compulsive connection, she resolves to unearth and chart the rest of the poet’s life story and translate the poem.

I love the way this book is written, there’s a strange, otherworldly quality but it’s also full of busy, vibrant and frenzied thoughts that echoed with me.  Candid, relatable thoughts on education, knowledge, possessions, motherhood, domesticity, emotional labour and the gaping absence of women’s writings and records over the centuries.  I found the portrayal of women’s historical lack of agency and their place in the shadows pointedly sad, but a situation which the book goes a long way to challenge and rectify.  But it also highlights in many subtle ways the fine line between devotion and obsession, as well as the sacrifices and disadvantages women still face today. 

“This is a female text, which is also a caoineadh: a dirge and a drudge-song, an anthem of praise, a chant and a keen, a lament and an echo, a chorus and a hymn.  Join in.”

A magnetic work of fiery passion, love, rage, obsession, disappointment and self understanding, this is one I’ll read again!😍