Away

Life is not a series of isolated ponds and puddles; life is a river. Only in the most literal sense are we born on the day we leave our mother's womb. In the larger, truer sense, we are born of the past - connected to its fluidity, both genetically and experientially. The novel Away is a clear example of how people are connected to the past. It characterizes three generations of a family of women. …

…the forest and they continue to live the life of the tortured Irish. The women all share relationships with men. They are very similar, but Eileen is the only one who gets to be with her man for an extended period of time and is the only one that bares a child from that man. The women of the family are connected through their experiences in life. The women are connected both genetically and experientially.