At Swim, Two Boys by Jamie O'Neill

At Swim, Two Boys by Jamie O'Neill'Weren't you never out for an easy dip?' he asked . . . 'I don't mean the baths, I mean with a pal. For a lark like.' But at the Forty Foot, that great jut of Dublin rock where gentlemen bathe in the scandalous nude, two boys meet day after day. There they make a pact: that Doyler will teach Jim to swim, and in a year, they will swim the bay to the distant beacon of the Muglins rock, to raise the Green and claim it for themselves. As a turbulent year

praised for her "edgy precision

detailed portrait of one of the most powerful companies in the world' The New York Times

fifty years ago

'A vivid and chilling narrative

her romantic longings are thwarted by her middle-aged

When her father and brother succumb to the hard reality of immigrant life in the American South

The Silk Roads

one of the best historical novels I've read in a long time

and The Real Thing

This is a love story

Using her own experiences with her brother Branwell to depict the cruelty and debauchery from which Helen flees

it is the key to finding long-lasting happiness