Farley is an elderly Dublin man, frail in body but sharp as a tack. Waking in the middle of the night, he finds himself lying paralyzed on the cold bathroom floor. And so his mind begins to move backwards, taking us with him.
As Farley unravels the warp and weft of his life, he relives its loves, losses and betrayals with the darkly comic wit of a true Dubliner. For this is also Dublin's story, the city Farley has seen through poverty and prosperity, boom and bust - each the other's constant companion during his seventy-five years.

"This stunning novel has as its core the pulsing heart of love that drives the circulation of every being... Extraordinary" - Independent on Sunday

"I simply didn't want it to reach its conclusion... Farley and the supporting characters in The Cold Eye of Heaven have moved into my head and I just don't have the heart to evict them." - Sunday Independent

"Christine Dwyer Hickey's most achieved, taut and nuanced novel to date... Farley is a triumph." - Irish Independent

"The most profound novel I have read for years... As I finished reading, I turned to the first page and began to read again." - Guardian