Sunrise with Sea Monster

Imprisoned in Spain during the Spanish Civil War, Donal Gore is sustained by memories of setting fishing lines on the beach with his father, back home in Ireland. Released from the Spanish prison by a German officer who expects political intelligence in return, Donal goes back to the family home on the rainswept promenade-to find his once powerful father dramatically changed. The moving and magical heart of the novel explores the hopeless inability of this father… (plus)

Imprisoned in Spain during the Spanish Civil War, Donal Gore is sustained by memories of setting fishing lines on the beach with his father, back home in Ireland. Released from the Spanish prison by a German officer who expects political intelligence in return, Donal goes back to the family home on the rainswept promenade-to find his once powerful father dramatically changed. The moving and magical heart of the novel explores the hopeless inability of this father and son to express their feelings for each other, until the father is literally beyond language. And at the same time it centers on the poignant, fumbling, triangular relationship between father, son, and Rose, the beautiful young stepmother. Weaving together love and politics, sex and treachery, unsettling humor and vivid layers of memory, Sunrise with Sea Monster is a tour de force, back in print for the first time in years.