The critically acclaimed story collection from the author of Academy Street Longlisted for the Guardian First Book Award
An elderly schoolteacher recalls the single act of youthful passion that changed her life forever. A young gardener has an unsettling encounter with a suburban housewife. A teenage girl strikes up an unlikely friendship with a lonely bachelor.
In these twelve haunting stories award-winning writer Mary Costello examines the passions and perils of everyday life with startling insight, casting a light into the darkest corners of the human heart.
"This is a writer unafraid of the graveside, or the bedside, of filling the space of the story to the brim. Large events happen in small lives . . . Her writing has the kind of urgency that the great problems demand . . . With a bit of luck, they could keep her at the desk for the rest of her life" - * Guardian *
"So intricately wrought, so unique and enthralling as to be utterly bewitching" - * Sunday Independent *
"Simply a masterpiece" - * Irish Independent *
"
Echoing Thomas Hardy, she reveals how even ordinary lives can be full of drama and incident . . .
Beautifully crafted but never pretentious, Costello's stories are stark and honest and her characters linger long after you close the book
" - * Books Ireland *
"These stories want all of you, mind and body and soul, like a consummation" - * The Millions *
"In 15 pages, we feel the breadth and depth of a life and its regrets" - * Irish Times *
