Trama

As her classmates prepare for their First Holy Communion, Rubai announces that she is an atheist and refuses to participate.

The First Holy Communion is fast approaching but as an atheist, eight-year-old Rubai refuses to be part of it. Rubai faces emotional blackmail, religious and philosophical debate and out and out intolerance in today's supposedly diverse and modern Ireland.—Anonymous

Rúbaí and many of the other young girls of her age in her community will soon be receiving their first communion. In the process of her religious studies, she begins to question openly if there is a God as she has seen no evidence of such in her life as her teacher has described. In her own research and believing that Charles Darwin's theory of evolution makes more sense, she comes to the conclusion that she is an atheist, something that perturbs her teacher, the priest and her mother beyond what it might mean for Rúbaí and the pomp and circumstance of the actual event of communion. Something that happens with Rúbaí's goldfish may provide her mother with a better understanding of where her daughter is coming from, while Rúbaí's teacher may also come to an understanding of her thought processes about life in general, like it or not.—Huggo