Like his father before him, Donn is born to the now mythical role of the Lord of the Mountain, a remote community in rural Ireland, unmarked by the passage of time. But Donn longs for a wider kingdom. He deserts his bride, roams the world, fights in wars, is footloose - yet finds that he is homesick. Sixteen years later he returns to take up the threads of his old life, to learn to love his afflicted daughter, and to bring progress to the neglected green valley. Light comes, water flows, the land prospers. Then, on a night of innocent festivity, a monstrous crime is perpetrated. His kingdom...

Sullivan was a born actor. Blessed and cursed with the artist's gifts and temperament in full measure, he could hold an audience, or a woman's heart, in the palm of his hand. From a boyhood stuffed with multi-coloured dreams to defy Galway's slums, through fit-ups and fairs in the Irish countryside, to struggle and renown in Dublin, London and New York, his crowded, generous journey was rich in comedies, disappointments and surprises. Success was as capricious as the seasons. But when it came, was it enough? Could it replace the one girl who had learnt always to expect the unexpected from...

From boyhood to manhood big, gentle Mico had but two passions in life - the sea, and a young girl so terrible lovely-lookin' it raised your heart to heaven just to see her smile. But with a hideous birthmark on his cheek, a Jonah to those he loved, and only the simple life of a fisherman to offer, how could he hope to win Maeve? The white-capped waves and a great old black bitch of a boat brought the answer . . .

This is the story of Stephen O'Riordan, a true son of the wild and beautiful land of Connemara, of his hopes and ambitions, and of his passionate and stormy love for Kathleen, sister of his bitterest enemy . . . It is also the story of Ireland after twenty-five years of liberty, like Stephen new in its freedom and thought yet primitive in its emotions, its people witty, bawdy, boozy, hard-working, loud-voiced or gentle - but never dull . . .

Careless of the hurts he inflicts along the way, Bart O'Breen walks his own road, as proud as the devil and as lonely as hell. In the Galway village of Boola, Bart O'Breen is a strong wilful young man who leaves trouble and harm in his wake. As always in a novel by Walter Macken, there is a host of memorable secondary characters, and an unfailing accuracy and warmth in the depiction of the life of the "plain people" of the west of Ireland. One of Walter Macken's finest novels, Sunset on the Window-Panes is a moving and memorable story of Irish life.

From boyhood to manhood big, gentle Mico had but two passions in life - the sea, and a young girl so terrible lovely-lookin' it raised your heart to heaven just to see her smile. But with a hideous birthmark on his cheek, a Jonah to those he loved, and only the simple life of a fisherman to offer, how could he hope to win Maeve? The white-capped waves and a great old black bitch of a boat brought the answer . . .

This is the story of Stephen O'Riordan, a true son of the wild and beautiful land of Connemara, of his hopes and ambitions, and of his passionate and stormy love for Kathleen, sister of his bitterest enemy . . . It is also the story of Ireland after twenty-five years of liberty, like Stephen new in its freedom and thought yet primitive in its emotions, its people witty, bawdy, boozy, hard-working, loud-voiced or gentle - but never dull . . .

Like his father before him, Donn is born to the now mythical role of the Lord of the Mountain, a remote community in rural Ireland, unmarked by the passage of time. But Donn longs for a wider kingdom. He deserts his bride, roams the world, fights in wars, is footloose - yet finds that he is homesick. Sixteen years later he returns to take up the threads of his old life, to learn to love his afflicted daughter, and to bring progress to the neglected green valley. Light comes, water flows, the land prospers. Then, on a night of innocent festivity, a monstrous crime is perpetrated. His kingdom...

Careless of the hurts he inflicts along the way, Bart O'Breen walks his own road, as proud as the devil and as lonely as hell. In the Galway village of Boola, Bart O'Breen is a strong wilful young man who leaves trouble and harm in his wake. As always in a novel by Walter Macken, there is a host of memorable secondary characters, and an unfailing accuracy and warmth in the depiction of the life of the "plain people" of the west of Ireland. One of Walter Macken's finest novels, Sunset on the Window-Panes is a moving and memorable story of Irish life.

Sullivan was a born actor. Blessed and cursed with the artist's gifts and temperament in full measure, he could hold an audience, or a woman's heart, in the palm of his hand. From a boyhood stuffed with multi-coloured dreams to defy Galway's slums, through fit-ups and fairs in the Irish countryside, to struggle and renown in Dublin, London and New York, his crowded, generous journey was rich in comedies, disappointments and surprises. Success was as capricious as the seasons. But when it came, was it enough? Could it replace the one girl who had learnt always to expect the unexpected from...