Michael Curtin (1)

A really great read - charting the transition from old-fashioned draper's store to fashion boutique, from all singing, all dancing pubs to no smoking, no singing bars, all against the background of Irish culture and the lives of bell ringers and ordinary people. Great dialogue and the taste of Ireland throughout.

This is an extremely clever book - with a cast of characters that are just made for each other. The insights into everyone of their lives is insightful and totally believable.

Don't know how this can have achieved a 2 star rating - it's a marvellous book (as are Curtin's "The Plastic Tomato Cutter" and "The Cove Shivering Club" - his others, less so).

An unlikely group of marginalised people, who make up a weekly card game in a Shepherds Bush pub, discover that they have in common a hatred of Christmas. They decide to take action; difficulties ensue.