"It should have won all the prizes" DORIS LESSING"Enthralling, chilling and memorable" Sunday Telegraph"So original that the text is illuminating" The Times"Remarkable and haunting" Guardian In a London pub in the 1950s, editor William Maginn is intrigued by a reference to the reputedly shameful demise of a remote mountain village in Kerry, Ireland, where he was born.

Maginn returns to Kerry and uncovers an astonishing tale: both the account of the destruction of a place and a way of life which once preserved Ireland s ancient traditions, and the tragedy of an increasingly isolated village where the women mysteriously die leaving the priest, Father McGreevy, to cope. McGreevy struggles to preserve what remains of his parish, and against the rough mountain elements, the grief and superstitions of his people, and the growing distrust in the town below.

Rich in the details of Irish lore and life, and a gripping exploration of both the locus of misfortune and the nature of evil, its narrative evokes both a time and a place with the accuracy of a keen unsentimental eye, and renders its characters with heartfelt depth. Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize