Desire and pursuit - Frank Delaney

A mystery story of great emotional power, told in rich language and crackling dialogue.

Ann Halpin always believed she was born into the wrong family. The nouveau-riche values of her bookmaker father, Joss, and his name-dropping wife, Moya, disturb and embarrass her. To exact revenge for her 'snobbery' they manoeuvre her into an abusive marriage with her father's brutish, wise-cracking business manager, Joey.

But at her wedding reception in February 1972, she is observed by an English journalist, Christopher Hunter, who is lunching at the hotel. He, a turbulent and withdrawn man, blooded in the savage intrigues of the Troubles, instantly falls in love with her.

Thereafter, Christopher obsessively pursues his vision of possessing this beautiful and grave girl whom he has only glimpsed one bright winter day, though she does not even know he exists.

Multi-layered and unpredictable, a psychological mystery of yearning and loss, Desire and Pursuit is also a painful and deeply rewarding allegory, whose truth is provocative and rich.