Niall Williams's internationally bestselling 'delicate and graceful love story . . . a magical work of fiction' (NYTBR), now a major motion picture starring Pierce Brosnan, Helena Bonham Carter, and Gabriel Byrne by the critically acclaimed author of This Is Happiness (a Late Show with Stephen Colbert Book Club Pick for November 2025). Nicholas Coughlan is twelve years old when his father, an Irish civil servant, announces that God has commanded him to become a painter. He abandons the family and a wife who is driven to despair. Years later, Nicholas's own civil-service career is disrupted by tragic news: his father has burned down the house, with all his paintings and himself in it. Isabel Gore is the daughter of a poet. She's a passionate girl, but her brother is the real prodigy, a musician. And yet this family, too, is struck by tragedy: a seizure leaves the boy mute and unable to play. Years later, Isabel will continue to somehow blame herself, casting off her own chances for