A POIGNANT STORY OF LOVE AND REGRET FROM A MASTER OF CONTEMPORARY IRISH FICTION * 'David
Park is one of Ireland's great novelists.' Roddy Doyle author of The Commitments * For
fans of Sebastian Faulks Donal Ryan and Anne Tyler comes this beautiful novel following two
troubled men separated by nearly a century bound by the ghosts of their past When George
Allenby is put in charge of building a lake in the grounds of an imposing Irish manor house he
intends to do the job as swiftly as possible and return to Belfast. Allenby is still wrestling
with his time as an officer during the First World War burdened by the many things he could
have done differently. Almost a century later Alex and Ellie are preparing for their
wedding sparing no expense to hire a venue overlooking the very lake Allenby built all those
years ago. Like Allenby before him Alex is haunted by decisions he made in the past. Now
with the wedding drawing ever closer he is at a crossroads. Telling the truth might free him
from his guilt it might also take away everything he cares about including Ellie. In this
masterful portrait of love and betrayal David Park reveals the many ways the past seeps into
the present: destructive formidable but also hopeful in the moments of fragile beauty that
remain.
