The Stolen Child

... I won???t say anything further in order to not give away spoilers, but suffice to say that Emer???s longing for that deep, intimate connection with another person ??? in other words, her desire for an anam cara ??? quickly becomes a chain on the person she decides to associate that term with. Though the term is meant to be one of affection, of closeness and trust, it is also incredibly easy to take those ideas to dangerous extremes and transform them into a form of abuse ??? not physical, perhaps, but certainly emotional.

The idea of desire that can turn dark and dangerous, that can turn into a chokehold, is another key theme in the novel. In Emer???s storyline, her desire for connection ??? filial, platonic, romantic ??? does not quite turn into an obsession, but it does become a dark, dangerous thing that, in a crucial moment in the plot, becomes ruinous. The same kind of desire appears in Brigid???s storyline; though the object of her desire is different from Emer???s, in some ways the kind of connection she desires is no different ??? and no less potentially dark and destructive.

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