Holding

No one living could recall a time when it had ever looked any different. Time didn’t pass in Dundeen; it seeped away.

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 loveable characters, and explore - with searing honesty - the complexities and contradictions that make us human. A masterful debut, Holding is an intelligently crafted story of love, secrets and loss.