Book description
In mid-1970s rural Wicklow, John Hughes, a once-feted
journalist/author with writer's block, reflects on recent events. When
English author William Cromer and his German lover Ingrid move to the
Old Rectory nearby, their lives are transformed and an alcohol-fuelled
affair begins. Hughes puts at risk everything he has ever loved - his
wife Laura, teenage daughter Rachael and the bucolic ease of their
quiet corner of Ireland. Nationalist resentment of this tax-free haven
enjoyed by foreigners is sparked by events in Northern Ireland, and
John finds himself in the middle of extortion, blackmail, marital
betrayal and a suicide. As old and new friendships unravel, even
lunchtime visits to the local pub become points of attrition. Losing
his friends and mistress, John is forced to take responsibility for
his actions in order to save his family and his integrity, and to find
release as a writer.
Kevin Casey was born in Kells, Co. Meath in 1940 and went to
Blackrock College, Dublin. Once the Abbey's youngest playwright, and
married to poet Eavan Boland, he is author of critically acclaimed
worksThe Sinner's Bell (1968), A Sense of Survival (1974) and Dreams of
Revenge (1977). This is his exciting comeback novel.
