Living a life alone without parents nor siblings is difficult, and sometimes we think about them so much that they can appear in front of us. Bernie McGill´s short story “No Angel” brings this topic into focus and shows that grief is individually. She describes what life is like, when you have lost your entire family. The short story was brought in the anthology “The Best British Short Stories 2011”. It takes place in Northern Ireland, where Bernie McGill was born. The narrator, named Annie, has lost her parents and her brother, Robbie, and now she keeps seeing her father wherever she goes. When he shows up, he is not exactly happy and emotional and neither is she. They talk as if he was still alive, and he keeps on giving her his opinion on how she lives her life. He especially gives her his strong opinion on whether or not she should marry Thomas, who is her boyfriend.
Annie’s father’s issue with her Thomas has roots in the conflict between the Catholics and the protestants in Ireland. The conflict, also called the troubles, encompassed whether or not Northern Ireland should be part of the Republic of Ireland or the Great Britain. Thomas is of another belief than Annie’s father is, and therefore Annie’s father does not trust him:
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