Philip Casey
Published: 2014-08-01
Total Pages: 266
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In December 1989, Tess and Mungo spot each other while supporting The Parade of Innocence in Dublin. Their paths continue to cross, and eventually they meet in The Winding Stair Bookshop & Cafe overlooking the Liffey at the Ha'Penny Bridge, both of them wary of the other and troubled by guilt. Tess has separated from her husband and left her son behind. Mungo almost killed his son in a fire by dropping a cigarette while drunk. Reluctant to reveal her true self and circumstances, Tess concocts a former life in Berlin, and Mungo picks up on her strategem, inventing a life in Barcelona. Their tall tales fuel a love affair, allowing them, as their stories become more fantastic, to confront their guilt. As Eamonn Wall noted in The Review of Contemporary Fiction, '...the stories they tell of adventures in places they haven't visited (Tess's Germany and Mungo's Spain) form a fascinating double narrative, one which allows for deep insights into both of their lives.'