PETER SHERIDAN

'I feel like Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music,' she says. 'I've nowhere else to go.' Weighing in at 240 pounds and covered in tattoos, Philo doesn't look much like Julie Andrews. And with her penchant for smoking, swearing and eating, she's hardly an ideal candidate for the sisterhood. But Philo is desperate. She's on the run from her husband, Tommo, and she needs refuge. The good sisters at the convent of the Good Shepherd take her under their wings, and before long, she finds a new self-confidence, and a new role at the centre of the beleaguered community. With a heart as big as her waistband, there's plenty of love to go round, but Philo knows that, sooner or later, she will need to face up to the cracks in her own life, her wayward husband and son, and the dark secret she's been running from for as long as she can remember. At the core of Peter Sheridan's warm-hearted and poignant novel is the once-thriving docks community where he grew up. Now in terminal decline, his story is a celebration of the people who once lived there, and a protest at the official neglect that led to its demise. Read an interview with Peter Sheridan...Peter Sheridan, talks to Nicki Howard about writing his first novel and his beloved Dublin.

Philo's mouth is always getting her into trouble - it's either food going in or profanities coming out. But when she turns up at the Good Shepherd convent looking for a bed, Sister Rosaleen finds she can't say no. And as it becomes clear that Philo needs to escape a troubled past, the nuns allow her into their lives and their hearts.

Peter Sheridan -una de las figuras de mayor importancia en el teatro irlandés contemporáneo- nos relata las vidas de sus familiares dublineses, unos personajes tan excéntricos como inteligentes y afectuosos.Peter Sheridan nos sitúa en una encrucijada en la que confluyen la hilaridad y el dolor, la ternura y la crueldad. Las personas que allí viven son a menudo despiadadas, con frecuencia generosas y siempre, siempre, humanas. Y él las capta a la perfección.» (Roddy Doyle), la prensa ha dicho: «En estas maravillosas memorias, que representan también un poderoso ejercicio en el recuerdo y en el amor, Peter Sheridan logra reconstruir el mundo perdido de Dublín de los sesenta. Quizás sea cierto que asistimos a la conclusión de un siglo conflictivo, pero al menos puede decirse que ha visto el nacimiento de grandes libros. He aquí uno de ellos» (Sebastián Barry)