Holding

**SOON TO BE AN ITV DRAMA SERIES**

'Poised and perceptive' Sunday Times

'a beautiful piece of writing with a great story and fantastic, full bodied characters. All this with glorious West Cork as its setting. . . irresistible.' Kathy Burke

'. . . a deftly plotted story as moving as it is compelling' Sunday Mirror

'Deeply accomplished . . . brilliantly observed' Good Housekeeping

'. . . one of the more authentic debuts I've read in recent years . . . in such an understated manner, eschewing linguistic eccentricity . . . in favour of genuine characters and tender feeling . . . this is a fine novel' John Boyne, Irish Times

'It's funny and wonderfully perceptive' Wendy Holden

'It is beautiful and yet devastatingly sad' Daily Express

'Strenuously charming . . . surprisingly tender' Metro

'Heartwarming and observant' Stylist

The remote Irish village of Duneen has known little drama; and yet its inhabitants are troubled. Sergeant PJ Collins hasn't always been this overweight; mother of two Brid Riordan hasn't always been an alcoholic; and elegant Evelyn Ross hasn't always felt that her life was a total waste. So when human remains are discovered on an old farm, suspected to be that of Tommy Burke - a former love of both Brid and Evelyn - the village's dark past begins to unravel.

As the frustrated PJ struggles to solve a genuine case for the first time in his life, he unearths a community's worth of anger and resentments, secrets and regret.

Darkly comic, touching and at times profoundly sad. Graham Norton employs his acerbic wit to breathe life into a host of lovable characters, and explore - with searing honesty - the complexities and contradictions that make us human.