Shortlisted for the Booker Prize Helen's beloved brother Declan is dying. Now, she must join her mother and grandmother in a crumbling old house by the sea, three generations calling an uneasy truce after years of strife, to be by his side. Together with Declan's friends, who know more about him than any family, they must all deal with the past and come to terms with each other. 'It is in his emotional choreography that Tóibín shows himself to be an exceptional writer' The Sunday Telegraph ' The most astonishing piece of writing, lyrical in its emotion and spare in its construction . Tóibín has crafted an unmissable read' The Sunday Herald.