New York: Dial Press, (1995) dj. Hardcover first edition - Second novel by this Irish writer and playwright (his first novel was shortlisted for the Booker Prize), one in which he "returns to the emotionally dense landscape of small-town Ireland to explore the inner lives of two men: a headmaster and a schoolteacher, each man the product of a soul-stifling culture, each battling his own demons of loss and betrayal. " 286 pp. ISBN: 0-385-314205.