Like the caged lark in the overcrowded house in the back streets of Belfast, Johnny Griffin’s mother feels cooped up. She pines for her country home and for the fields she has left behind to live with her son’s family in the city.

Unemployment has brought the Griffins to the brink of eviction, and only the grandmother's pension can tide them over until prospects improve. Her addition to the household solves some problems but creates others for her son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren. Grandson Hugh resents her presence most because he had been hoping to marry and move into the little room that is given over to the old woman.

In the end, ironically, it is her house and field in the country that provide all the members of the family with a better life.

In Lost Fields McLaverty powerfully evokes the details of individual's lives in working-class Belfast. The harshness of their struggle to survive is offset by moments of pure happiness, intense pleasure in natural beauty and the characters' faith in their dreams. Presented with all the persuasiveness of a great master, this story is guaranteed to captivate the reader with its poignant drama and authenticity