This book is just so beautiful in its gentleness, I can't even describe it.

When Paddy and Kit Gladney's daughter Moll leaves the house one day and doesn't return, they are shattered. Moll had a lovely childhood, and she was cherished and never had reason to run away yet they hear nothing from her until five years later, when she walks back through the front gate. In the days following. the couple learn where Moll has been and what has happened in her life as she's joined by a man and child and they all become family again.

Donal Ryan's writing, and his way of slowly revealing the full story through these simple glimpses from each character, is just so wonderful, and I love his style of writing. How gorgeous yet simple it is all at the same time. There was a loveliness to this book that made me smile and my heart felt warm while at the same time, an undercurrent of suffering and sadness that would make you want to rip your chest open.

Alexander was an absolutely wonderful character, and I loved the friendship, father/son relationship he struck up with Paddy and the shocked yet lovely acceptance of him, as the first black men many people had ever seen, into the village and how he became part of life. Paddy and Alexander's stories and later on Kit's were probably my favourite. I was surprised by Moll's story and where it went and while I didn't mind it, she was definitely the hardest character to like, followed by Joshu.

I just really enjoyed this book, and it has really reaffirmed my faith in Donal Ryan's story-telling and how everything he writes touches me in some way because it's all so beautiful while still being uniquely his own.