Larry Stack, a teacher and trade union leader living in Dublin, is arrested and held without charge while attending a protest against the new regime.

Eilish, however, refuses to believe this, insists that the regime will not hold power for long, and will be removed through international outrage and economic sanctions, as revealed in foreign news.

He refuses, going into hiding, before deciding he will join a rapidly growing rebel force comprising defected soldiers and civilian volunteers.

Wracked with grief, Eilish and her remaining two children join an exodus of people trying to escape the fighting into Northern Ireland, using money given to them by Áine.

Harrison further stated that "the manner in which civil society breaks apart is lingeringly and brutally drawn", with the narrative having insightful parallels to similar crises in recent history.

[14] Not all reviews were positive, however, with The Daily Telegraph's Cal Revely-Calder describing Prophet Song as "the weak link in a strong shortlist – and the real winner [Sarah Bernstein's Study for Obedience] was overlooked".

Regarding the novel's prose, Markovits stated that, although the novel contains "many, many lines and passages of great beauty and power", there were also instances when "Lynch doesn't quite trust the situation he has put his characters in to carry the emotional weight, and the metaphors start to get in the way.

[4] Regarding the novel's depiction of war and the subsequent migrant crisis, Edugyan stated that the book "captures the social and political anxieties of our current moment.