Author Description

It was a perfect summer, one of the first summers after the Great War, and it was Nancy's eighteenth birthday. The troubled aftermath of the war, the continuing ferment in nearby Dublin, did not appear to disturb the placid life in the big house by the sea, until that meeting which shattered Nancy's innocence and led her to the dilemma - loyalty to the family or to the country. 'Subtle, moving and distinguished, acutely evocative.' OBSERVER 'A beautiful, perfectly self-contained book with the quality of a dream.' GUARDIAN Winner of the Whitbread and Yorkshire Post Awards. 'Subtly and beautifully executed - a near-perfect novel.' THE TIMES