At Swim, Two Boys

A truly original—and utterly compulsive—novel, reminiscent of Midnight's Children and A Suitable Boy for its scope and vitality. Set in Dublin and its near surrounds, At Swim, Two Boys follows the turbulent year leading up to Easter 1916.

At its core, it tells the love story of two boys: Jim, a naive and reticent scholar, the younger son of the foolish, aspiring shopkeeper Mr. Mack; and Doyler, the dark, rough diamond son of Mr. Mack's old army pal. Out at the Forty Foot, that great jut of rock where gentlemen bathe in the scandalous nude, the two boys meet day after day. There, they make a pact: Doyler will teach Jim to swim, and in a year, they will swim the bay to the distant beacon of the Muglins rock to raise the Green and claim it for themselves.

As Ireland sets forth towards her uncertain glory, a love story of the utmost tenderness unfolds, carrying the reader through the turbulence of the times like a full-blown sail. At Swim, Two Boys is written with great verve and mastery, sharing those elements that are marks of all great books—the breadth of its canvas, the skill of its brush, the intensity of its subjects, and, above all, the shining light of its humanity.