Really enjoyable read. Good characters and a Good story. Well worth a read. Think others will enjoy.

Samuel Orr is the pastor of a small mission hall in Belfast. He’s happily married with 3 children but falls in love with Anna and has an affair with her. So far, so banal. But the consequences of this relationship are far-reaching as they reverberate down the years and become more and more unpredictable as time goes by. In spare and measured prose, well-crafted and well-paced, the tension builds as the novel progresses and it’s a compelling domestic drama. Love, loss, forgiveness, faith, and above all vengeance, make for a heady mix and a complex exploration of family dynamics. Thoroughly engaging and enjoyable.

A devastatingly sad story of lives blighted by grief and unresolved bitterness. Teenaged Philip cannot forgive his father’s adultery and its effect on his mother. He refuses to accept the new family he is expected to fit into. His resentment, crudely articulated at first, is honed as he grows older into calculated, systematic manipulation of those around him, with the aim of wreaking vengeance on his father. And at enormous cost, not only to those who love him, but above all to himself.

The structure of the novel is interesting, split as it is into two distinct halves. During the first half, I was unsure who was narrating. It was clear that the events were being described from some distance in the future, and comments along the lines of ‘in retrospect she should have noticed…..’ introduced a sense of foreboding leading to the dramatic events hinted at. In the second half, the family by now all grown up and living independent lives miles away from each other, they are brought back together for a final resolution of unfinished business. The build-up to the inevitable confrontation of old ‘enemies’ is unnerving and atmospheric, terrifically well plotted and paced.

Have I made this sound unremittingly bleak? It isn’t at all - it is a thoughtful exploration of motive, guilt and religious faith. No character is wholly good or bad, they are people caught up in tragedy, believing themselves to be doing what they must. We are invited to sympathise with them all. Highly recommended.

I'll post this review on goodreads nearer the time of publication. Thanks so much for the opportunity to read this ARC, much appreciated.

Excellent book. Great main characters and plot. I would recommend this book.

This is a book of two halves. The first half is the story an odd, stilted kind of romance between an old-style Belfast preacher and a young Beckett scholar. They meet and, despite their religious beliefs, his marriage and children and his career, they embark on an affair, which eventually leads to the birth of a child and to an unsuccessful attempt to make a home together. The protagonist of the second half is the child born of their affair, describing his life in New York.

I found the writing style a little difficult to get into at first; it was a little too flowery for me. Sometimes it seemed to me that the author's favourite book must have been a thesaurus. However the writing is still impressive and the author clearly has talent. As someone familiar with the setting of Belfast around 2012, I appreciated the accuracy of the setting - not just geographically, but of the attitudes and culture of the city, which are keenly-observed.

The story meandered a bit and focused very much (especially in the first part of the book) on the inner life, the thoughts and feelings rather than the actions and words of the characters. I was somewhat thrown to discover that the second half of the book was set some time in the future and this seemed slightly jarring somehow. There were a few nods to the "futuristic' setting, such as a throwaway line about "where the zoo used to be", but at other times there were lines that made me frown at the assumption that things would not have changed so much - e.g. will hip-hop music still be trendy for teenagers in 2030?

It felt to me as though this author was trying to make a point but wasn't quite sure what that point was - but having said that, there is enough good writing, enough sharp observation, enough character development to make me come back for more.