WINNER OF THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL FICTION WINNER OF THE DALKEY LITERARY AWARD
FOR NOVEL OF THE YEAR SHORTLISTED FOR THE IRISH BOOK AWARDS An Irish Independent and
Irish Times Book of the Year ________________________ 'It is a long time since I have
read such a fine novel or one that I have enjoyed quite so much.' Irish Times 1950: late
summer season on Cape Cod. Michael a ten-year-old boy is spending the summer with Richie and
his glamorous but troubled mother. Left to their own devices the boys meet a couple living
nearby - the artists Jo and Edward Hopper - and an unlikely friendship is forged. She
volatile passionate and often irrational suffers bouts of obsessive sexual jealousy. He
withdrawn and unwell depressed by his inability to work becomes besotted by Richie's frail
and beautiful Aunt Katherine who has not long to live - an infatuation he shares with young
Michael. A novel of loneliness and regret the legacy of World War II and the ever-changing
concept of the American Dream. ' A brilliant portrait... With a beguiling grace and a
deceptive simplicity Christine Dwyer Hickey reminds us that the past is never far away -
rather it constantly surrounds us suspends us haunts us. ' Colum McCann
