Nan bears the grueling gossip and threats by local townspeople to inform her son of his mother’s past indiscretion. Fast forward 20 years and their son, John, is studying in England, while being financed by his mother taking in sewing when possible. Foolishly she returns to her native town and after her husband hears of her history endures a life of physical and mental abuse from her now alcoholic spouse. (Henry Shannon, in turn, marries another woman). Years earlier the beautiful Nan Brennan, in an attempt to marry the only eligible man in Garradrimna (Henry Shannon), becomes pregnant, and after believing her newborn has died (or murdered) emigrated to England and marries another man. His return from seminary one Summer introduces a rancid history in a small Irish town in the early years of the twentieth century. The story is about Nan Brennan, who’s determined to have a priest for a son. An old gossip informs Nan and John that she was there the night Nan gave birth to Henry's child – in reality, the child was born alive and was given to Henry and his wife – who they raised as their son, Ulick Shannon. Rebecca leaves for Dublin and an uncertain future. Ulick abandons her and John murders him, weighing the body with lead and hiding it in the lake. Ulick and Rebecca have a relationship, however, and when Rebecca becomes pregnant she is disgraced and expelled from the village. John returns to Garradrimna for a holiday, where he befriends Ulick Shannon (son of Henry) and falls for Rebecca Kerr, a schoolteacher. However, she has become as cruel, petty and jealous as the rest of Garradrimna, and connives with the postmistress to sabotage Myles Shannon's chance at romance with an English girl, to get revenge on the Shannon family for rejecting her. He makes a little as a labourer, whereas Nan works every day at sewing to support their only child, John, studying in England to become a Catholic priest. Ned is now an alcoholic, brought low by the humiliation of his wife's past promiscuity. They later move back to Garradrimna, where the villagers rejoice in telling Ned about his wife's past. Henry marries another woman and later dies, while Nan emigrates to England and marries Ned Brennan.
After a miscarriage, the baby is buried at the bottom of the garden. She falls pregnant but Henry refuses to marry her.
Twenty years before the events of the book, Nan Byrne has a relationship with a local man, Henry Shannon, hoping to marry him for his wealth. Garradrimna is a tiny village where everyone is interested in everyone else's business and wishes them to fail. Valley of the Squinting Windows is a classic Irish novel set in central Ireland c.
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