Prophet Song

In a near future Ireland, in the wake of a teacher's union strike, the right wing National Alliance party seizes control of the government. The new government quickly repeals civil liberties as Irish citizens are arrested without cause, tortured and peaceful protests are broken up. Larry Stack, a teacher and trade union leader, is arrested and held without charge while attending a rally. His wife Eilish, who is a scientist, is left to care for their four children and her father who has dementia. The country soon descends into civil war, and Irish citizens who are suspected of being part of the resistance are arrested or killed. Eilish contemplates fleeing the country with her family.

Some critics felt that the narrative being told without paragraph breaks added to the urgency of the plot. With Aimee Walsh of The Guardian stating the style lent the book a "breathless, claustrophobic atmosphere." Walsh concluded by stating: "Lynch’s message is crystal clear: lives the world over are experiencing upheaval, violence, persecution. Prophet Song is a literary manifesto for empathy for those in need and a brilliant, haunting novel that should be placed into the hands of policymakers everywhere."[3] Writing for The Financial Times, Lucy Popescu stated that the lack of paragraph breaks gave the novel a sense or urgency. She stated that the novel gave a new perspective and empathy to those suffering in the migrant crisis, stating: "Lynch describes the unremitting horrors of war, but his fiction also directly challenges the negative rhetoric surrounding refugees by articulating and illuminating their trauma."[4]