i loved this book it had me in from the first page it moved at a quick pace a heartbreaking story that will play with your emotions as it did mine. Graham Norton has won 9 BAFTAs for Best Entertainment Performance, and Best Entertainment Programme.

Overall however I was just a little bemused by the abrupt conclusion and the takeaway felt a little too simplistic. Graham William Walker is an Irish actor, comedian, television presenter and columnist, known by his stage name Graham Norton. The side characters - I could have done with more information on the family feud with Elizabeth, her aunt, uncle, and cousin. This compelling new novel confirms Graham Norton's status as a fresh, literary voice, bringing his clear-eyed understanding of human nature and its darkest flaws. Stumbling across a small wooden box of letters penned to her mother in the early Seventies in response to a lonely hearts advert by the man she has been told is her father it provides her first opportunity to learn more about Edward Foley.I don't like to do that with NetGalley reads though, so I may have to rethink on that in the future.

Maybe because she had been away for so long, but there's no mention of her having an accent or how her relatives sound, etc.

Following her mother’s death home in Ireland, Elizabeth travels to Buncarragh where she has inherited her childhood home. He is visiting his gay father, Elliot in California, a man he has seen little of since his parents acrimonious split. From there we have Elizabeth traveling back to where her father lived and finding out about what led her mother to him all of those years ago.

The book goes back and forward in time telling the story from both Elizabeth in present day and her mother Patricia in the past. This was powerful storytelling, with depth of both character and plot, the threads joining both eras all strongly interwoven. A compelling and moving story, expertly told, that will draw you in and keep you in its grip until the last page. This compelling new novel confirms Graham Norton’s status as a fresh, literary voice, bringing his clear-eyed understanding of human nature and its darkest flaws.I tend to wait at least a day after finishing a book to post a review, but I am highly annoyed right now and just want to put this book behind me.

Maybe I have been reading too much Tana French and Maeve Binchy, but the book didn't feel "Irish" to me. Living in America has left a void in Elizabeth as she tries to interact with her extended Irish family. Add to this Elizabeth's awkwardness and frustrations, the quirkiness of everyone she comes across, and little moments of beauty, and you have the unusual combination that comes together to make this book absolutely wonderful.It is not tense or a thriller by any means, but it does hold a great deal of dark mystery and sadness. Patricia is a bit lonely and when her friend pushes her to put an ad in a farmer's magazine she ends up starting correspondence with a man named Edward Foley. Most of the book is Elizabeth remembering how her mother raised her and either finding fault with it and or missing her at the same time.