Reading in the Dark

Winner of the Guardian Fiction Prize, Seamus Deane's transfixing novel is set in postwar Northern Ireland during the 1950s -- a time when the unquiet ghosts of the Troubles walk alongside the changelings of Celtic legend -- as it tells the story of a young boy trying to uncover the secrets of the grown-up world.

Through the eyes of Deane's unnamed narrator, we encounter rumors of family schisms and political betrayals; of an uncle who may have died a hero of the IRA or absconded to America: of a child who returns from the grave and of two others who vanish into one. Reading in the Dark is a work of unforgettable power, overflowing with tenderness, menace, and dark wit.