DIGGING FOR PEAT in the mountain with his Uncle Tally, Fergus finds the body of a child, and it looks like she’s been murdered. As Fergus tri...
read full description
reviews
Nov 30, 2008
Lynn
rated it: 
Masterful! Dowd weaves multiple plot lines throughout this compelling story and there is never a moment when the pace falters or the story loses the way. Fergus McCan and his vague Uncle Tally cross the border that divides Ireland to dig peat at a construction site. They discover the body of what appears to be a child and the police of both side's authorities appear on the scene only to learn that the body is ancient. Mel, the young girl, appears at intervals in Fergus' dreams, slowly reveal
More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Dec 13, 2008
Karlan
rated it:
Set during the time when Irish prisoners were starving themselves, the trouble faced by families whose loved ones were involved is portrayed in a moving style. The discovery of a mummified body by a boy whose brother is starving himself leads the boy to mature and take action to help his brother. The characters are well developed and the romance will pull in many readers. A beautiful achievement.
Jul 12, 2008
Cindy
rated it:
Fans of David Almond's books are going to love this one. Fergus finds a body buried in the peat he is digging in Northern Ireland. It turns out to be from 80 AD, another body preserved in the bog. He begins to dream about the mysterious past of the girl, who apparently was murdered. Woven into this story is the 1980s politics of the Troubles, and the hunger strike by the political prisoners at Long Kesh, including Fergus's older brother. A romance with the archaeologist's daughter and Fergus's i
More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Jan 29, 2009
Aaron
rated it: 
Set in 1981, this novel brings modern readers back into the center of the discord over Northern Ireland. Eighteen-year-old Fergus McCann lives with his family in the northern counties, which are held by Great Britain. The family is embroiled in the fight for independence against the foreign holders. In fact, his brother is currently in prison and has started a hunger strike, and he is not alone. There are other men in the prison doing the same, and some have even died from it. This leaves Fergus
More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Dec 06, 2008
Brandy
rated it: 
On a study break from preparing for his A-level exams, Fergus accompanies his uncle Tally on a peat-digging trip when they find the body in the bog. Police argue about which side of Ireland's north-south border the body is on and therefore who is responsible for handling this apparent murder case--but then the body is determined to be much older than any open murder case, possibly Iron Age. Fergus gets deeply involved in trying to unravel the mystery of who the girl was (as well as getting dee
More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Jan 30, 2012
"Bog Child" by Siobhan Dowd is my new favorite book. One of the things I really liked was the fact that it was based on things that really happened. The main character is a boy named Fergus. Fergus and his uncle were digging for peat on the other side of the border when they discovered a body. It looked like a young girl. During the 1980's in Ireland, which is where and when this book took place, many bodies were found. When referred to in history they are called 'bog bodies' which is
More...
Sep 10, 2011
Marleen
rated it:
The year is 1981 and Fergus is 18 years old and studying for his exams, hoping to score the three B’s he’ll need if he wants to move away from his home, on the border between the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland, to study to become a doctor.
He is up in the mountains, stealing peat with his uncle, when Fergus discovers a body in the ground. A body which becomes the focus of archaeologists as soon as it is reported and a body which brings Cora and her mother from Dublin to help in the exca More...
He is up in the mountains, stealing peat with his uncle, when Fergus discovers a body in the ground. A body which becomes the focus of archaeologists as soon as it is reported and a body which brings Cora and her mother from Dublin to help in the exca More...
Aug 08, 2011
Lan
rated it:
A personal favourite of mine. I found the book in my high school library and was impelled to read it due to the interesting premise. I have a very strong historical calling, and historical fiction is a nice slip between reality and fantasy.
Fergus is a graduating high school student who crosses the border with his Uncle Tally to swipe some peat in the early morning hours and stumbles upon the body of what appears to be a young girl of seven or eight. At his insistence, his uncle goes More...
Fergus is a graduating high school student who crosses the border with his Uncle Tally to swipe some peat in the early morning hours and stumbles upon the body of what appears to be a young girl of seven or eight. At his insistence, his uncle goes More...
Aug 08, 2011
Louise
rated it:
Everyone should read Siobhan Dowd. This book is gripping, funny, tragic and touching. It is set in Belfast in 1981, as the IRA prisoners in the Maze are engaged in the hunger strike for recognition as political prisoners. The story brings together past and present when 18-year-old Finn discovers the Bog Child, an Iron Age child buried near the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic. What he discovers about the child's death in the first century CE parallels the story of his brother, Jo
More...
Jan 08, 2011
Lydia
rated it:
Fergus is preparing for his exams which would take him away from his Northern Ireland small town. But on a trip with his uncle he discovers a child buried in the bog, which opens him up to the field of not only archaeology, but an interaction with the daughter of the archaeologist. Meanwhile, it's the 80's and Ireland is in the midst of the war between the Protestants and th Catholics. Fergus has decided he no longer believes in God, but what does this mean for him?
This book is not for More...
This book is not for More...
Sep 16, 2010
Maureen
rated it:
by Siobhan Dowd
Opening line--"They'd stolen a march on the day."
I haven't read much historical fiction that's set in the recent past, so this was a new experience for me. It does start me wondering about where the line is drawn between historical and contemporary fiction. Five years? Ten years? Twenty? Or is it something fuzzier?
I have to admit that I don't know much about Northern Ireland in the time of the Troubles. I mean, I know that they More...
Opening line--"They'd stolen a march on the day."
I haven't read much historical fiction that's set in the recent past, so this was a new experience for me. It does start me wondering about where the line is drawn between historical and contemporary fiction. Five years? Ten years? Twenty? Or is it something fuzzier?
I have to admit that I don't know much about Northern Ireland in the time of the Troubles. I mean, I know that they More...
Jul 03, 2010
Erin
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
May 19, 2010
Crys
rated it:
I gave this book a five because when I finished it last night I just couldn't stop thinking about it. It begins in 1981 in a Northern Irish town bordering Southern Ireland. Fergus McCann is the second son, studying for his A level exams, trying to do well enough to leave Ireland and become a doctor. While out gathering peat with his Uncle Tally (Unk), Fergus finds the body of a 2000 year old Iron Age Child.
You have several stories going on. While studying for exams Fergus is fal More...
You have several stories going on. While studying for exams Fergus is fal More...
Aug 09, 2011
Liora
rated it:
While cutting peat just across the border that divides Ireland into two countries, 18 year old Fergus McGann and his Uncle Tally discover a small, well-preserved body in the bog. An archaeologist is called in and the body is determined to be from the Iron Age. The novel takes place in the 1980's in the border regions of Ireland during a time called The Troubles and several jailed Irish freedom fighters were starving themselves to death in prison to gain public and media attention to their cause.
More...
Jan 01, 2010
Erica
rated it:
Finding a dead child curled up in the peat is a difficult way to start off your day, but these are difficult times for Fergus and the child ends up being the least of his worries. The year is 1981 and Ireland is in the midst of a violent conflict called The Troubles. Fergus's only hope of getting away is to earn good enough grades on his finals to go to school in Scotland, but how is he supposed to study with his brother slowly dying in a hunger strike in prison? And what should he do when hi
More...
Dec 30, 2009
K.
rated it:
Bog child is about a young boy in Northern Ireland of the 1980's..during 'the troubles'.
He finds a child entombed in peat moss he is illegally cutting one day, and afterwards begins imagining/dreaming of what her life would be like as he naviagates the political and family messes of the day.
Fergus is a likeable young boy, caught up in events he doesn't want to deal with; terrorism, political upheaval, an activist brother.
Focusing on the bog child is a way for More...
He finds a child entombed in peat moss he is illegally cutting one day, and afterwards begins imagining/dreaming of what her life would be like as he naviagates the political and family messes of the day.
Fergus is a likeable young boy, caught up in events he doesn't want to deal with; terrorism, political upheaval, an activist brother.
Focusing on the bog child is a way for More...
Sep 09, 2009
Fiona
rated it:
This surprised me as being a book I very quickly found myself getting into.
Dowd's style is simple, but beautiful - like being gently cushioned and guided through the story she tells.
It is set on the border between North Ireland and South Ireland, in 1981 when the Troubles in Ireland were strong and troublesome.
It starts when Fergus and his uncle dig up a dead child in the bog whilst stealing peat. Really though, it is not a story about a bog child - it is a More...
Dowd's style is simple, but beautiful - like being gently cushioned and guided through the story she tells.
It is set on the border between North Ireland and South Ireland, in 1981 when the Troubles in Ireland were strong and troublesome.
It starts when Fergus and his uncle dig up a dead child in the bog whilst stealing peat. Really though, it is not a story about a bog child - it is a More...
Mar 12, 2011
kari
rated it:
Brilliant!
Expertly weaves several compelling plots.
The language used is so carefully crafted, not a word is wasted. More importantly, you'll never forget you're reading a story about Ireland. I could almost hear the soft accent of the narrator without it feeling overdone.
Fergus is a wonderful character, full of hopes and dreams that he doesn't know if he'll be able to make come true. You'll be pulling for him as he takes his exams and sad when he's forced to make a decision to More...
Expertly weaves several compelling plots.
The language used is so carefully crafted, not a word is wasted. More importantly, you'll never forget you're reading a story about Ireland. I could almost hear the soft accent of the narrator without it feeling overdone.
Fergus is a wonderful character, full of hopes and dreams that he doesn't know if he'll be able to make come true. You'll be pulling for him as he takes his exams and sad when he's forced to make a decision to More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Aug 03, 2011
Stevecrandell
rated it:
This book is an impressive combination of challenge and reward. Lots of Irish slang, geography, and political history: with very little support to clarify matters for typical teen readers. I have an OK sense of the Irish/UK conflict, but Dowd’s physical description of the borderlands had me confused. It took time to decipher all the loughs, conkers, Semtex and other terms. And I eventually had to search for JCB on the Internet. But for those who are willing to piece together the puzzles, this is
More...
Jul 30, 2011
Jen
rated it:
Fergus is an 18 year old living in Northern Ireland, right on the border with the south. One day, while out with his Uncle Tally cutting peat, he discovers a body in the bog. The body becomes the centre of an archaeological dig when it is dated from the Iron Age. Fergus becomes involved with the lead archaeologist and her daugther, Cora, who rent out their spare room. He is also reluctantly recruited by the Provos to run packages across the border on his regular training runs, although his
More...
Apr 26, 2011
Jen
rated it:
Lit. class review:
Bog Child. Siobhan Dowd. 322 pages. David Fickling Books 2008.
This one from the 2009 top ten list caught my eye because I was in Ireland last summer and my friend and I went to the “bog bodies” exhibit in Dublin. A review I read said Dowd combines a story of a girl from the Iron Age with stories of the Troubles in Northern Ireland “into a successful, even riveting, work of fiction”. I’m intrigued.
p. 109 – The main character of the story is Fergus, More...
Bog Child. Siobhan Dowd. 322 pages. David Fickling Books 2008.
This one from the 2009 top ten list caught my eye because I was in Ireland last summer and my friend and I went to the “bog bodies” exhibit in Dublin. A review I read said Dowd combines a story of a girl from the Iron Age with stories of the Troubles in Northern Ireland “into a successful, even riveting, work of fiction”. I’m intrigued.
p. 109 – The main character of the story is Fergus, More...
3 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
May 21, 2011
Renae
rated it:
I picked this up for two reasons:
1. A morbid fascination with the bog people they've dug up from time to time in the peat bogs of Ireland.
2. The realization that I know exactly NOTHING about the recent history of Ireland.
I love reading about times I don't know anything about. This was definitely a hook for me. Set in Ireland in the early 80's, it was a time when the IRA was active against occupying British troops. I don't normally like politically-focused conflict, bu More...
1. A morbid fascination with the bog people they've dug up from time to time in the peat bogs of Ireland.
2. The realization that I know exactly NOTHING about the recent history of Ireland.
I love reading about times I don't know anything about. This was definitely a hook for me. Set in Ireland in the early 80's, it was a time when the IRA was active against occupying British troops. I don't normally like politically-focused conflict, bu More...
Jul 24, 2010
Yvonne
rated it:
Finding a mummified body of a child is not the best way to start your day! Eighteen year old Fergus McCann finds the remains of a small girl while poaching turf with his uncle in 1980s Ireland. Thus begins a seamlessly interwoven novel of multiple story lines. Fergus is confronted with several life altering situations - discovering more about the little girl, his developing relationship with Cora, being blackmailed into running packages for the IRA, the trauma of having his older brother, a pol
More...
May 10, 2010
Courtney
rated it:
I've been trying to leaven my YA fantasy jag with books set in a more contemporary context. Admittedly, Mal Peet's Exposure hardly counts as realism, but I'm making an effort.
'Bog Child' likewise mixes fantasy and realism; the story of a girl ritually sacrificed during the Iron Age and buried in a peat bog, whose body is discovered 2000 years later by Fergus, a teenager with a bunch of his own problems - he's struggling with his A-levels, his brother is in Long Kesh (aka HMP The Maze More...
'Bog Child' likewise mixes fantasy and realism; the story of a girl ritually sacrificed during the Iron Age and buried in a peat bog, whose body is discovered 2000 years later by Fergus, a teenager with a bunch of his own problems - he's struggling with his A-levels, his brother is in Long Kesh (aka HMP The Maze More...
Mar 06, 2009
H
rated it:
Bog Child tells the story of Fergus, an 18 year old boy caught up in the Troubles in Northern Ireland in 1981. With a brother on hunger strike in prison, Fergus just wants to stay out of trouble long enough to finish his exams and get OUT of his home town. But his discovery of a perfectly preserved Iron Age body in a local peat bog, and his relationships with his parents, his family, his friends, and the girl who accompanies her archaeologist mother to investigate the body all conspire to pull
More...
Apr 23, 2010
Newport YA Librarians
rated it:
Teenager Fergus McCann must juggle growing up, falling in love, and coping with his jailed brother's hunger strike during "The Troubles," the political conflict in Northern Ireland between Catholic nationalists and Protestant unionists that lasted from the 1960s to the "Good Friday Agreement" of 1998. Along with all that, Fergus discovered the body of a girl buried in a bog in the mountains when he was out running one morning. Learning of her great antiquity--she lived almos
More...
Sep 28, 2009
Miriam
rated it:
I loved it. I think I loved the narrator of this book so much - he just felt so real to me and so empathetic - that he won me over despite there being a few things that I might otherwise have found not quite right. The potentially not-quite-right things: the beginning of the friendship between Fergus and the Welsh guard maybe felt a bit forced, the parallel story of the bog child told through Fergus's dreams, and maybe his whole illegal border crossing mission. Ordinarily, these things would hav
More...
Aug 20, 2009
Christina
rated it:
Interesting story set in Northern Ireland in 1981, during "the Troubles", when the radical IRA was fighting against the British to get Northern Ireland reunited with the rest of Ireland, and young men like 18 year old Fergus were often recruited to join in their terrorist activities. Fergus' older brother is in jail for doing that sort of thing, and is now on a hunger strike. Fergus, however, just wants to avoid all the politics and ace his exams so he can get into college and away fro
More...
Jun 22, 2009
Doris
rated it:
I read this book at the suggestion of a colleague. Bog Child is a fascinating look at the life of Fergus, who along with his uncle, discover a body in the bogs of Ireland. Fergus then forms a connection with the spirit of the Bog Child, who was apparently murdered during the Northern Ireland and the hunger strike of the Long Kesh political prisoners.
The history of this historical fiction novel was new to me as my knowledge of Ireland is limited. The inclusion of tidbits of Irish l More...
The history of this historical fiction novel was new to me as my knowledge of Ireland is limited. The inclusion of tidbits of Irish l More...
Jul 17, 2009
Cornmaven
rated it:
Excellent historical fiction book that covers the Irish hunger strike in the 1980s, involving prisoners in Northern Ireland, who fasted as a way to demand political prisoner status. Several died, and it tore apart families and communities.
This novel is one of a few that are being published posthumously, as Dowd died suddenly. It follows a family whose son is in the prison, with another son studying for exams that will determine whether he can go to college or not. The latter son d More...
This novel is one of a few that are being published posthumously, as Dowd died suddenly. It follows a family whose son is in the prison, with another son studying for exams that will determine whether he can go to college or not. The latter son d More...
