Now a major motion picture: the Booker-shortlisted Irish author's last novel: a 'masterpiece' (Observer) – 'wise and compelling … elegiac and graceful' (David Mitchell) – by 'one of the greatest writers of our era' (Hilary Mantel)Joe and Kate Ruttledge have come to Ireland from London in search of a different life. In passages of beauty and truth, the drama of a year in their lives and those of the memorable characters that move about them unfolds through the action, the rituals of work, religious observances and play. We are introduced, with deceptive simplicity, to a complete representation of existence – an enclosed world has been transformed into an Everywhere. 'Mc Gahern brings us that tonic gift of the best fiction, the sense of truth – the sense of transparency that permits us to see imaginary lives more clearly than we see our own.' John Updike'I have admired, even loved, John Mc Gahern's work since his first novel.' Melvyn Bragg