The gatemaker

A vivid recreation of Dublin and Belfast in the war years, and the capstone of a remarkable trilogy whose author has imagined herself into the history of its characters with unfailing truth and compassion' - Anthony Cronin The third book in the author's Dublin trilogy, which began with the critically acclaimed The Dancer and was followed by The Gambler, climaxes in the suburb of Crumlin with tragedy and shame for the dancer's family. Christine Dwyer Hickey's elegant and beautiful prose culminates here in the final chapter of one family's decline from prosperity to poverty. Her superbly drawn characters are made to face up to the often terrible consequences of their own actions, evoking a moving and elegiac testament to the city of Dublin in years during and after the Second World War. At once disquieting and deeply resonant, Dwyer Hickey creates a vivid sense of time and place, where, in an age of desperate poverty, the tortuous forces of life are brought to bear on this Dublin family.