The deeply moving second novel from the author of the award-winning
FIVE RIVERS MET ON A WOODED PLAIN.
'Courageous...memorable...moving' - Guardian
'One of our most exciting young writers' - The Times
*'Life-affirming, beautiful and achingly poignant' - Donal Ryan
*
'Isn't the life of any person made up out of the telling of two tales,
after all? The whole world makes more sense if you remember that
everyone has two lives, their real lives and their dreams, both stories
only a tape's breadth apart from each other, impossibly divided,
indivisibly close.'
Every year, Robert's family comes together at a rambling old house to
celebrate his birthday. Aunts, uncles, distant cousins - it has been a
milestone in their lives for decades. But this year Robert doesn't want
to be reminded of what has happened since they last met - and nor, for
quite different reasons, does his granddaughter Kate. Neither of them is
sure they can face the party. But for both Robert and Kate, it may
become the most important gathering of all.
As lyrical and true to life as Norris's critically acclaimed debut
Five Rivers Met on a Wooded Plain, which won a Betty Trask Award and
was shortlisted for the Ondaatje Prize and Debut of the Year at the
British Book Awards, this is a compelling, emotional story of family,
human frailty, and the marks that love leaves on us.
