Judes resolve was durable and year after year she suggested the actual terms to her renewing the lease but her pumice stone had minimal effect on the wodjous woman Mrs Minnie OBrien.

Christopher Nolans poetic and distinctively layered prose flows into this generous tale of a spirited old woman and her struggle to hold together the five fields left to her by her husband and fiercely guarded against the day of her prodigal younger sons return.

Full of humour and unexpected imagery the story follows Minnie OBriens progress as a young bride sipping her first and only glass of white wine in Dublin the city of just about right and as a widowed mother discovering that the husband she loved had secrets he kept even form her.

A story told without bitterness it is a full of colour and life as the Westmeath countryside that Minnie loves.

About the Author In 1987 Christopher Nolans story of his childhood Under the Eye of the Clock won the Whitbread Book of the Year Award.

His first novel twelve years in the creation confirms the promise of a writer who has been compared to Joyce and Yeats and yet is uniquely talented.

Christopher Nolan was born and still lives in Ireland.

He was educated in Dublin at the Central Remedial Clinic School Mount Temple Comprehensive and Trinity College.

He published his first book DamBurst of Dreams a collection of poetry and other writings a jubilant lawless debut.

John Carey in 1981.

In 1987 his life story Under the Eye of the Clock won the Whitbread Book of the Year Award.