"Four Letters of Love"
...y who lives in eastern Ireland. The first conflict arises when his father, who is a civil servant, decides he has been “called by God” to be a painter. Nicholas’s mother is upset with the sudden loss of a steady income, and tension in the Coughlan household deepens as time goes by. On the other side of Ireland, Isabel Gore lives on a small island with her parents and her brother Sean. Her life is generally happy until Sean is struck by a sudden seizure, losing his ability to speak and communicate with his family. The tale goes on to describe the family’s grief and Isabel’s inexplicable yet unshakeable guilt. Some time later, Isabel travels to a boarding school on the mainland, and eventually marries a man named Peader O’Luing. The marriage is less than satisfactory, however, resulting more in sorrow than joy. In the meantime, Nicholas’s mother has passed away as a result of an increasingly stressful lifestyle. His father is not very successful, but he continues to paint, believing that it is God’s will. Eventually, however, William’s house catches fire and he dies in the blaze. Nicholas, after grieving for a long time, decides to search for his father’s only surviving painting. As it so happens, this painting is owned by Isabel’s father. As Nicholas travels west to the island to visit the Gores, the two plots finally begin meshing together. It becomes apparent that the tragedy in Isabel and Nicholas’s lives has worked towards the purpose of bringing them toge...