A quiet, engaging novel about the death of a priest in 1950s Ireland and a world on the cusp of change.

At the funeral, several priests remarked how appropriate it was that Father Conroy should have returned on his last day to Rosnagree, the parish in which he was born. Father Tom Conroy – a spiky, difficult man – dies at a reunion of his seminary colleagues. As this masterly novel unfolds, we are taken through the years that formed this troublesome priest, who knew his life had been a failure. The Hungry Grass is a sharply witty and moving novel of a world on the cusp of change.

"The Apollo choices have been masterful. The list is thought-provoking, eye-opening, inspired and inspiring" - The Big Issue

"The very best portrait of a priest in Irish fiction... It is a chilling yet deeply compassionate study of a man whose growth is stunted both by choice and by circumstances. The environment is perfectly realised; the small clashes, the irritations, the sense of static life, the greed and ambition of small-town politics... This is a very fine novel'" - Irish Times

"tylistic and sharp... What Powers has managed to do here in this quiet novel is create a character of depth and complexity... The Hungry Grass is a find'" - Sunday Independent

"Daring... Beautifully written... It is a masterpiece'" - RTÉ Radio

"An inspired reissuing of Power's superb novel, which was first published in 1969, reveals a writer with much in common with the great William Trevor... Easily one of the finest Irish novels ever written – no tricks, just genius'" - Irish Times

"This Apollo edition returns to print a neglected work of literary merit. The author's touch is light, finding humour amid the pathos" - TLS

"A heart-breaking aria for the unloved life... The Hungry Grass offers a remarkable elegy for squandered opportunity and has lost none of its potency in the forty years since publication'" - BookWitty