It is boom time in Dublin and Philip and Sam, a professional couple in banking and advertising gorged on success, buy a run-down monastery in a wealthy suburb. As they throw lavish parties to consolidate their social standing, cracks appear in the designer fixtures, mirroring the disintegration of marriage and a once-solid moral scaffolding.

WILLIAM KINGwas born in Kilflynn, County Kerry, in 1945. He studied at University College Dublin and Holy Cross College, Clonliffe, and is parish priest at Corpus Christi, Drumcondra. He is author of bestselling novels The Strangled Impulse (1997), Swansong (2001) and Leaving Ardglass (2008).