What a wonderful book this is! Conlon's voice is real...her character are people, living, loving, despairing, and making the best of it all.

Every single one of them rings a bell and the honesty is refreshing and true. They are a group of real friends who know when to tell the truth and when to think over telling the truth. Everyone takes responsibility for who they are and they accept, support, and make allowances.

This is what it's all about.

Best novel I read since Charming Billy. Had trouble putting it down, it gripped me immediately and does s fine job of increasing conflict up to the very last chapter. Story told with letters and an occasional chapter devoted to a single character providing his/her background from childhood on. Well written, characters developed in full. Read the book from our library - it was published in Ireland - and purchased a copy to send to a daughter who will loan it to others. Wonderful story - or stories really.