An educated man who bought land when it was cheap. Stoic, silent and powerful — Peter does not allow himself to feel pain, he buries it. But silence has a way of keeping secrets.

Fergal carries grief like armour — it is the only thing holding his memory of Bridget together, five years after she died. He blames the landlord for her death. Grief is not weakness for Fergal. It is all he has left.

Bridget was very happily married to Fergal, her childhood sweetheart. She came from a large family of musicians and longed for children, but years of travelling to find work made that impossible. When she finally settled with the love of her life, she succumbed to starvation — as so many did.

Máire has been the barmaid in the rural shebeen her whole life, raised there by parents long since passed. Though it feels like a prison, her power lies in keeping the peace — and in never letting tensions rise to the surface.

Young Fergal does not yet know the cost of grief or the fear of losing memory — he feels everything, literally. He built a life with Bridget, travelling the length of Ireland from Kerry to Donegal. Young Fergal is memory itself.