Chapter 86
- "My mother ... was an alcoholic whore. Just listening to her, I can tell that nothing has changed. She gave birth to me out of wedlock and resented me ever since. She was never there for me, never supported me, never gave more than the smallest amount of effort to take care of me. There were more liquor bottles in that house than food. I remember pushing them aside in the kitchen, desperately looking for something to eat. I remember them smashing by my head when she threw them at me and I got showered in glass. I used to dream that someday I would meet my father and he would take me away to someplace wonderful, away from this dreary country."
- Xavier looked at her quizzically. "Did she never tell you about your father?"
- "She didn't even know who he was. Considering how busy she was, half the men in Dublin could have been my father."