Author Jan Carson based her fourth novel, Few and Far Between, on a 1958 plan by then Northern Ireland Prime Minister Terence O’Neill to drain Lough Neagh and create a new county. The idea came from an article sent to her by a friend on Christmas Eve while she was on a writing residency in France.

Carson researched the effects of draining the lough and found records of Victorian-era partial drainage that created farmland. Topographical maps revealed elevated areas beneath the surface that would form islands if the water level dropped. She named this imagined archipelago the Ark.

Set in the late 1960s amid rising conflict, the novel places characters seeking sanctuary on the Ark. These include people in mixed marriages, gay couples and a trans woman named Sandra from Coleraine. The story is narrated by anthropologist RJ Connolly, who leads the community.

The islands host varied groups. Church Flat holds heart attack victims. Tom’s Hard is for those who died by suicide. Middle Flat houses women in coma-like states from trauma. Eglish contains buried items surfacing as water recedes.

Carson noted that 5,000 people have died by suicide in Northern Ireland since the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, exceeding the 3,600 lives lost during the Troubles. She described sleeping or resignation syndrome affecting the women on Middle Flat as a real condition linked to trauma.

The novel follows Connolly’s family, including wife Ursula, daughter Marion and son Robert John. It explores family dynamics alongside broader Northern Ireland themes. Few and Far Between joins Carson’s prior works The Fire Starters and The Raptures in examining society, politics, religion and trauma.

Lough Neagh is the largest freshwater lake in the UK and Ireland. Carson grew up 20km from it. The book is published by Doubleday on April 9th.