In the precarity of life on Skellig Michael, the three men must learn to lean on one another and God. Haven is a story of these trials and blessings of human weakness. “Haven,” by Emma Donoghue, published by HarperAvenue. Also evident, though, is the love the monks have for one another, in subtle scenes of fraternal charity and service: Artt humbly cleaning a cut on Cormac’s leg Cormac tending to Trian when the latter is struck down by sickness. Artt, Cormac and Trian are not easy companions, and Donoghue’s dialogue shows the fragility of trust among the three men as they argue about how to preserve their lives while cut off from outside help. In a book focusing on only three characters - and three characters for whom silence is a virtue - the few, brief moments of conversation are weighted with import and tension. Cormac and Trian are directed in their labours by Artt, the stern and demanding prior who leads their tiny community.ĭonoghue excels in her observations of the seemingly insignificant. In a section titled “The Cross,” an older monk, Brother Cormac, carves a freestanding cross from a stone pillar to claim the island for Christ, while in “Hatching Season,” the younger monk, Brother Trian, searches the island’s nests for eggs and birds for sustenance.

Instead of conventional chapters, the novel is divided into longer sections named for the labours the monks undertake as they struggle for survival on the island’s inhospitable peaks. Haven is slow-paced and contemplative, like the monastic life that Donoghue is depicting.

Review of haven by emma donoghue