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Holding

ebook / ISBN-13: 9781444791990

Price: £8.99

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**NOW A MAJOR TV DRAMA SERIES**

‘A gentle comic crime story’ The Guardian

‘Poised and perceptive’ Sunday Times

‘a beautiful piece of writing with a great story and fantastic, full bodied characters. All this with glorious West Cork as its setting…irresistible.’ Kathy Burke


‘… a deftly plotted story as moving as it is compelling’ Sunday Mirror

‘Deeply accomplished … brilliantly observed’ Good Housekeeping

‘… one of the more authentic debuts I’ve read in recent years … in such an understated manner, eschewing linguistic eccentricity … in favour of genuine characters and tender feeling … this is a fine novel‘ John Boyne, Irish Times

‘It’s funny and wonderfully perceptive’ Wendy Holden

‘It is beautiful and yet devastatingly sad’ Daily Express

‘Strenuously charming … surprisingly tender’ Metro

‘Heartwarming and observant’ Stylist


The remote Irish village of Duneen has known little drama; and yet its inhabitants are troubled. Sergeant PJ Collins hasn’t always been this overweight; mother of two Brid Riordan hasn’t always been an alcoholic; and elegant Evelyn Ross hasn’t always felt that her life was a total waste. So when human remains are discovered on an old farm, suspected to be that of Tommy Burke – a former love of both Brid and Evelyn – the village’s dark past begins to unravel.

As the frustrated PJ struggles to solve a genuine case for the first time in his life, he unearths a community’s worth of anger and resentments, secrets and regret.

Darkly comic, touching and at times profoundly sad. Graham Norton employs his acerbic wit to breathe life into a host of lovable characters, and explore – with searing honesty – the complexities and contradictions that make us human.

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Reviews

Heartwarming and observant
Stylist
Poised and perceptive
Louis Wise, the Sunday Times
Strenuously charming...surprisingly tender
Clare Allfree, Metro
Full of emotion and tense moments. You will be gripped from the first page.
Woman's Own
Deeply accomplished, with brilliantly observed, entertaining characters and an atmospheric setting
Good Housekeeping
An undercurrent of black comedy accompanies the ripples that ensue - but with a pathos that makes this deftly plotted story as moving as it is compelling.
Sunday Mirror
One of the more authentic debuts I've read in recent years... A fine novel.
John Boyne, The Irish Times
charming...thoughtfully done...highly enjoyable.
the Guardian