Holding

**NOW A MAJOR TV DRAMA SERIES**

‘A gentle comic crime story’ The Guardian

‘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.