Read the book shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2002 ... It is the summer of 1921 and eight-year-old Lucy Gault stays close to the glens and woods above Lahardane – the much-loved house that her family is being forced to abandon. She knows that danger threatens and the Gaults are no longer welcome in Ireland. Lucy, however, is headstrong and decides that somehow she must force her parents into staying. But the path she chooses ends in disaster. One chance event, unwanted and unexpected, will blight the lives of the Gaults for years to come and bind each of them in different ways to this one moment in time, to this beautiful stretch of coast … ‘Gravely beautiful, subtle and haunting’
Hermione Lee, Guardian ‘Astonishing, tender. A perfect novel’
Sunday Telegraph
‘A masterwork. I doubt that I have read a book as moving in at least a decade. A homage to the redemptive power of love’
Fergal Keane, Independent ‘Stark yet tender, without a single false note. There will be only a handful of novels worth reading this year (or any year) … this book is certainly one’
Literary Review ‘Flawless … not a single word seems out of place. Guaranteed to keep you reading – all through the night if necessary – to find out what happens. Trevor’s best novel’
New Statesman ‘Striking, thoughtful. Written with grace and finesse and charged throughout with a pervasive disquiet’
Independent ‘Dark, elegantly written … a book to relish’
Independent on Sunday ‘Unusual, beguiling, beautiful’
The Times
Hermione Lee, Guardian ‘Astonishing, tender. A perfect novel’
Sunday Telegraph
‘A masterwork. I doubt that I have read a book as moving in at least a decade. A homage to the redemptive power of love’
Fergal Keane, Independent ‘Stark yet tender, without a single false note. There will be only a handful of novels worth reading this year (or any year) … this book is certainly one’
Literary Review ‘Flawless … not a single word seems out of place. Guaranteed to keep you reading – all through the night if necessary – to find out what happens. Trevor’s best novel’
New Statesman ‘Striking, thoughtful. Written with grace and finesse and charged throughout with a pervasive disquiet’
Independent ‘Dark, elegantly written … a book to relish’
Independent on Sunday ‘Unusual, beguiling, beautiful’
The Times