This long-awaited new collection from the noted Irish writer Bernard MacLaverty examines worlds in collision, relationships fragmenting, innocence coming face to face with real life and real death. A Catholic schoolboy playing football has a theological debate with a Protestant policeman; a chess game in Spain is a catalyst for grief and redemption; in the haunting title story a Belfast man out walking his dog is kidnapped at gunpoint.

As always, MacLaverty's writing is vivid, exact, and pellucid, his characters perfectly observed, the surface of the prose deceptively still. It is only after we enter the world of the stories that we begin to make out the huge shapes that move there: loss, love, disappointment, fierce joy. This is a powerful, honest, and moving book by one of the great storytellers of our age.

About the Author
Bernard MacLaverty is the author of five previous collections of stories and five novels, including Grace Notes, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and Midwinter Break, shortlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award. Born in Ireland, he now lives in Glasgow, Scotland.

Reviews
"A consummate storyteller, he reveals the turbulence beneath the deceptive stillness of life. . . . Highly recommended." -- Library Journal



Book Information
ISBN 9780393314533
Author Bernard MacLaverty
Format Paperback
Page Count 212
Imprint WW Norton & Co
Publisher WW Norton & Co
Weight(grams) 277g
Dimensions(mm) 206mm * 137mm * 13mm