The fall of light - Niall Williams

The men of the Foley family have always been proud and fearless, fashioned by the harsh, cold elements of their country, and by years of fighting tooth and nail for survival. Their story begins in Ireland, in the difficult years of the early nineteenth century.

The family have lost their home and suffered another loss which proves even more vital — beautiful Emer Foley, wife of Francis, mother to Tomás, Finbar, Finan and the youngest boy, Teige. With nothing to hold them any more, each setting out across Ireland to its western shores, searching for the unclaimed land that lies next to their Eden. But Francis Foley is a bitter man, and his flinty soul can only bring destruction. Inevitably the five Foleys are scattered, each to his own road and his own future.

Niall Williams leads the reader along on their great journeys, through the bittersweet heart of rural Ireland and far beyond in echoes to Europe, America, Africa. He guides his characters through fire and water, earth and sky, myth and reality, loss and consolation, until finally they come to terms with their own freedom and dreams.