The Irish nation is at peace. Violence and segregation are consigned to history, stories to be told and not forgotten. Yet for the first generation to come of age in Ireland's flimsy peacetime, the ghosts of the past are all too close to home.

Cate Houlihan, recent Trinity graduate, is adrift in a life that doesn't feel her own. Struggling with a new job at an eccentric Dublin publishing house and stifled by overbearing parents, her one sanctuary is singing in the prestigious Carmina Urbana choir. When romance blossoms with the choir's newest member - the older, opaque and British Mathew Taylor - it seems as if things might be starting to go Cate's way.

But when her job brings her into contact with the recent Republican past, and she fears she is being followed, Cate's entire world becomes confused. Tensions escalate and she finds herself drawn inexorably into a situation she barely comprehends. As the lines between Cate's work, family and relationship begin to blur, she realises that danger is much closer to home than she could have ever imagined.

"Confident and likeable debut novel - its likeability manifest in its lively narrator... I look forward to whatever Cullinan will write next." - Irish Independent

"Lean Cullinan's elegantly written debut novel is both a coming of age story and a compelling thriller." - Irish Times