He is an older man walking in winter. And he knows this. There is white everywhere and a peculiar, almost acidic smell that those who have passed through childhood in a northern country associate with new, freshly fallen snow. He recognizes the smell but cannot bring to mind the word acidic. Snow, walking, and winter are the best he can come up with – these few words – and then the word older, which is associated with effort. Effort is what he is making; the effort to place one foot in front of the other, the effort required to keep moving, to keep moving toward the island.

It might have been more than an hour ago that he remembered, and then forgot, the word island. But even now, even though the word for island has gone, he believes he is walking toward a known place. He has a map of the shoreline in his brain; its docks and rundown wooden buildings, a few trees grown in the last century. Does he have the word for trees? Sometimes yes, but mostly no. He is ...

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. Jane Urquhart doesn't title individual chapters, instead she divides her novel into three large sections: "The Revelations"; "The Bog Commissioners"; "A Map of Glass". Look at each of these sections and discuss why it is given that particular title. The name of the second section, "The Bog Commissioners," is at first mysterious because Joseph Woodman only stayed in Ireland as a bog commissioner for less than half a year. But something ...