In 1950s Belfast a clergyman, Edward Ballater, fears for his family and doubts his faith. Edward s congregation do not understand his integrity, he deceives himself about the frustrations of his marriage and tries to comfort a young man whose life has been built on family lies. Is Edward s love for his family stronger than his failures, in the aftermath of an IRA bomb can he find a new understanding of his life? Janet McNeill is one of the great writers of the disillusions of middle age, with a tender and unflinching understanding of the conflicts of family life. Her perceptive characterisation and intelligent story-telling make her novels of life in Northern Ireland more valuable than many that are writ much larger. The Observer