num_pages: 208
description: Sixteen years on from his last novel Bernard MacLaverty reminds us why he is regarded as one of the greatest living Irish writers. A retired couple Gerry and Stella Gilmore fly from their home in Scotland to Amsterdam for a long weekenda holiday to refresh the senses to do some sightseeing and generally to take stock of what remains of their lives. Their relationship seems safe easy familiar. But over the course of the four days we discover the deep uncertainties that exist between them.Gerry once an architect is forgetful and set in his ways. Stella is tired of his lifestyle worried about their marriage and angry at his constant undermining of her religious faith. Things are not helped by memories that have begun to resurface of a troubled time in their native Ireland. As their midwinter break comes to an end we understand how far apart they areand can only watch as they struggle to save themselves. MacLaverty is a master storyteller and Midwinter Break is the essential MacLaverty novel: accurate compassionate observation; effortlessly elegant writing; and a tender intimate heartrending story. Yet it is also a profound examination of human love and how we live together a chamber piece of real resonance and power. Forty years after his first book MacLaverty has written his masterpiece.
language: English
title: Midwinter Break
publisher: W. W. Norton & Company