"Americans embarrassed her. They made no distinction between what came into their heads and what came out -- an endless stream of petty desires and ill-examined impressions dribbling from a hole in the face, the affliction amounted to mental incontinence" (6).

Estrin Lancaster is an American ex-pat living in Belfast, where she disassociates from other Americans and works in a local bar called The Green Door. It is on a distillery tour that she meets Farrell O'Phelan, who makes a hobby of dismantling bombs and who owns a local hotel. The late '80s of The Troubles in Ireland make for a rich, dynamic background for their relationship.

This book may be difficult to get through; the history and the conflicts described are not readily known to the average American reader. I know that I was unfamiliar with most of the places, events, and names that served as the background for the story. This is one of Shriver's earlier novels, and is a little heavy handed, although her characters are intense, and symbolic use of sexual imagery to describe Estrin and Farrell's relationship is spot-on.

"There is a trick to avoiding obligation that he had sorted out early. Maybe on Mother's Day flowers are in order, a card, a call. Those are the rules. But you can escape through a wee loophole: I am like this. All you need to do is establish early on that you are Not the Sort of Person Who Calls on Mother's Day, and lo, you are not. Expectation can be trained to zero. If you are Not the Sort of Person Who: goes home at Christmas, returns phone calls, responds to letters, or 'keeps in touch,' there is no discussion and, surprisingly, no anger. There may be rules, but it is not so difficult to make it clear that these are for other people" (218-219). -- Farrell O'Phelan ( )