Four letters of love - Niall Williams

Four Letters Of Love describes how two people set out on a journey towards each other, neither quite knowing that the journey has begun. Nicholas Coughlan is twelve, living with his parents just outside Dublin, when God speaks to his father, telling him to give up his job and devote his life to painting. The household is thrown into disarray, with Nicholas and his mother left in bitter, bemused poverty as his father sporadically disappears, obeying what he ardently believes to be God's command. Across the country, on an island off the west coast, isabel Gore lives with her family: her drunken, disappointed father; her sad but forbearing mother; and her brother, Sean, once a musical genlus but now, after a mysterious selzure, unable to walk or speak. Isable is sent away from the island, to convent school in Galway, but finding the restrictions of life with the nuns unbearable, and burdened by guilt at the fate of her brother, she takes the first opportunity to make what looks like an escape. Nicholas and Isabel were made for each other, but how will they ever know it? Four Letters Of Love is a novel about destiny, acceptance and the tragedies and miracles of everyday life.;Most of all it is an unforgettable, magical story about the illuminating power of love in all its guises.