Instructions for a heatwave

Summary: July, 1976. One morning Robert Riordan tells his wife, Gretta, that he is going around the corner to buy a newspaper.</ He doesn't return.</ Drawn back home to London to help solve the mystery, Gretta's grown-up children fit awkwardly into their childhood roles, and tensions run high. Each is at a turning point in his or her life. The eldest, Michael Francis, is increasingly estranged from his wife by parenthood and his guilt over a brief affair. Monica's performance as a perfect stepmother is convincing no one; and Aoife, the black sheep of the family, is finding that even in New York she can't hide from the secret that has set her apart since childhood.</ A journey back to Connemara, Ireland, brings surprises, insights and revelations, as each of them confronts the knotty tangle of family life and love. Elegant and compelling, <Instructions for a Heatwave</ secures Maggie O'Farrell's position as one of the best of the new generation of Irish writers.</ Praise for <Instructions for a Heatwave</</ "Here is an author whose depth and insight hover just below the surface of an apparently effortless lightness. ... There is a deliciousness to this novel, a warmth and readability that render it unputdownable and will surely make it a hit. She's done it again." '<The Guardian</</ "This is a novel about what we say and what other people hear; about families; what we don't tell each other and what we do; the compromises and accommodations we make and what happens when we build our lives around half-truths. It's thoroughly absorbing and beautifully written." '<The Daily Mail</<

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