SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE

AS HEARD ON BBC RADIO 4 BOOK AT BEDTIME

McGahern's masterpiece: the sort of book which you can give anyone of any age and know that they will be changed by it (Colm Tóibín) by one of the greatest writers of our era (Hilary Mantel). A book that can be read in two hours, but will linger in the mind for decades. Sunday Telegraph

Once an officer in the Irish War for Independence, Moran is now a widower, eking out a living on a small farm where he raises his two sons and three daughters. Adrift from the structure and security of the military, he keeps control by binding his family close to him. But as his children grow older and seek independence, and as the passing years bring with them bewildering change, Moran struggles to find a balance between love and tyranny.

McGahern brings us that tonic gift of the best fiction, the sense of truth - the sense of transparency that permits us to see imaginary lives more clearly than we see our own.

John Updike

An overwhelming experience. The Times

It is compact but not dense, spare yet rich, and brimming with tension. Observer