In 1981, the height of Ireland's "Troubles, " eighteen-year-old Fergus is distracted from his upcoming A-level exams by his imprisoned brother's hunger strike, the stress of being a courier for Sinn Fein, his growing interest in Cora visiting from Dublin, and dreams of a murdered girl whose body he discovered in a bog.

The North/South border, Ireland, 1981. While illegally digging up peat in a bog where they should not have been, Northerner Tally and his nephew, Fergus McCann, discover the body of a child. They initially suspect the body to be a victim of the merciless IRA. However, archaeological studies reveal the body to be over 2,000 years old and not necessarily a child. Discovering who, when, and why the girl now called Mel died is the topic on everyone's mind as teenager Fergus deals with A-level exams, his brother going through a hungers strike while in prison, working as a courier for Sinn Fein, learning to drive, and his interest in Cora, the daughter of the archaeologist who has come from Dublin to investigate the bog child. Packed with complexities and overarching themes, the late Siobhan Dowd presents a passionate and lyrical final novel.