Set in mid-17th century Ireland and Continental Europe, the narrative in An Cléireach is triggered by a single event that takes place during the Cromwellian invasion of Ireland, when a small band of the retreating Irishry gather on the side of a mountain and, despite the threat of massacre, for one night the rain lifts, the stars shine, and art and dreams take centre stage.
Nóra lives in her own fantasy world, and her family is at pains to preserve the false world she has created for herself. But when the pretence is too successful, and Nóra tries to make herr family work even harder for her, the young woman, Caitlín, puts her foot down, and announces that things will change in this house. And begod they do!
Micil and Nóra find themselves cut off at home by the rising seas. As the tide rises and the sea comes pouring in on the old couple, they find the time to debate the big questions: rising sea-levels and the receding Gaeltachts, cranky mná tí and gaeltacht colleges, Osama Bin Laden and the Ozone Layer, and, of course, LOVE. And then the man from the 'coláistí samhraidh' comes to rescuer them. Or does he?
