The union of a woman on a man’s property. The union of a man on a woman’s property. The union of a man visiting with the approval of her kin. The union of a man and a willing woman without the approval of her kin. The union of a man and an abducted woman. The union of a man and a secretly visited woman. The union that follows rape. The union of two insane people. It had been an early spring in the west of Ireland. In the kingdom of the Burren, mild south-westerly winds from the nearby Atlantic Ocean had put a temporary end to winter frosts by the middle of January. By the second day of February the sunken lanes in its valleys had been filled with pale yellow primroses and dark purple violets. Soon afterwards the willow had begun to quicken and burst forth into fluffy buds, the pink haze of the tiny herb robert spread over the ditches and the grass of the fields was sprinkled with cowslips. An early spring, said the optimists who began making plans for moving their cows to summer pasture.
