''Lig Sinn i gCathú'' () is a novel by the Irish writer

Breandán Ó hEithir Breandán Ó hEithir (18 January 1930 – 26 October 1990) was an Irish writer and broadcaster.Lord's Prayer The Lord's Prayer, also known by its incipit Our Father (, ), is a central Christian prayer attributed to Jesus. It contains petitions to God focused on God’s holiness, will, and kingdom, as well as human needs, with variations across manusc ...

(or "Our Father"): :forgive us our trespasses, :as we forgive those who trespass against us, :and ''lead us not into temptation'', :but deliver us from evil.

Plot

The story is set in the

university town A college town or university town is a town or city whose character is dominated by a college or university and their associated culture, often characterised by the student population making up 20 percent of the population of the community, bu ...

of Baile an Chaisil, a thinly disguised city of

Galway Galway ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the List of settleme ...

, in 1949, the year Ireland declared itself a republic and withdrew from the

Commonwealth of Nations The Commonwealth of Nations, often referred to as the British Commonwealth or simply the Commonwealth, is an International organization, international association of member states of the Commonwealth of Nations, 56 member states, the vast majo ...

. Máirtín Ó Mealóid, a pub-crawling university student, and his disreputable friends are too busy drinking and lusting after girls to pay much attention to this significant political development. The story takes place over four days from Thursday 14 April to Monday 18 April.

Publication

The novel was written and published in Irish, then translated into English and German and was adapted for the stage in 2004. An extract from the book was formerly on the

curriculum In education, a curriculum (; : curriculums or curricula ) is the totality of student experiences that occur in an educational process. The term often refers specifically to a planned sequence of instruction, or to a view of the student's experi ...

of Honours Level Irish in the

Leaving Certificate A secondary school leaving qualification is a document signifying that the holder has fulfilled any secondary education requirements of their locality, often including the passage of a final qualification examination. For each leaving certificate ...

secondary school examination. It was the first Irish-language book ever to top Ireland's hardback best-seller list. The book was launched at Kennys, and the event aired live for an hour and a half on

RTÉ Radio 1 RTÉ Radio 1 () is an Irish national radio station owned and operated by RTÉ and is the direct descendant of Dublin radio station 2RN, which began broadcasting on a regular basis on 1 January 1926. The total budget for the station in 2010 w ...

References

1976 novels Irish historical novels Irish-language literature Novels set in the 1940s 20th-century Irish novels {{1970s-hist-novel-stub