The first novel from the bestselling author of AT SWIM, TWO BOYS, now reissued in Scribner

Nilus Moore, a young Irish boy, lives with his father in their decaying, shambolic house. Haunted by the death of his mother, he escapes the chaos outside in the refuge of his bedroom, where he obsessively makes and remakes a matt-black jigsay and checks the perfect fold of his sheets. His garlic-chewing father has taken to his bed with a bottle of brandy, obvious of his brother's plans to demolish his already-crumbled home - now filling up with a bizarre collection of paying guests. As the rest of the household seems to tumble down around him, the atmosphere grows ever more alarming and Nilus has to struggle to keep his house and his mind from falling apart.