Book description
1950's Ireland. As a deep, bewildering fog cloaks Dublin, a young woman
is found to have vanished.
When Phoebe Griffin, still haunted by the horrors of her past, is
unable to discover news of her friend; Quirke, fresh from drying out in
an institution, responds to his daughter's request for help.
But as Phoebe, Quirke and Inspector Hackett speak with those who knew
April, they begin to realise that there may have been more behind the
young woman's discretion and secrecy than they could have imagined. And
while Quirke finds himself distracted from his sobriety by a beautiful
young actress, Phoebe watches helplessly as April's family hush up her
disappearance, terrified of a scandal; and all possible leads seem to
dry up, bar one she cannot bear to contemplate . . .
When Quirke eventually makes a disturbing discovery, he is finally able
to begin unravelling the great, complex web of love, lies, jealousy and
dark secrets that April spun her life from . . . Benjamin Black is the
pen name of acclaimed author John Banville, who was born in Wexford,
Ireland, in 1945. His novels have won numerous awards, including the Man
Booker Prize in 2005 for The Sea. He lives in Dublin.
