A quiet but emotionally resonant portrait of a middle-class family in pre-crash Ireland, Deirdre Madden's latest novel is understated and gorgeously crafted. Madden touches upon abstract ideas in a clear and accessible way, letting her characters graze past one another even as they search for intimacy and closeness. In tightly controlled prose, this beguiling novel meditates on the passage of time and the futility of memory by dwelling on the actions and preoccupations of everyday people.
"A deeply moving portrait of domestic and family life." - Sunday Telegraph (UK)
"The book is beautifully written and gently invites us to consider the shifting patterns of time." - The Scotsman (UK)
"An outstanding book." - Irish Independent
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Born in Ireland in 1960, Deidre Madden studied at Trinity College, Dublin and the University of East Anglia. She is the author of nine novels, including The Birds of Innocent Wood, which won the Somerset Maugham Prize, One by One in the Afternoon, and Molly Fox's Birthday, both of which were shortlisted for the Orange Prize. She lives in Paris.
I have lost all sense of home, having moved about so much. It means to me now only that place where the books are ...
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