First published 2017
Jack McNulty sits in Ghana in 1957, watching the last British troops depart after independence. The Irish officer should leave too, but he lingers like a worn-out missionary, delaying his return to Sligo and his children. McNulty carries the weight of a complicated past. He worked as an engineer in Africa, defused bombs in London during the war, survived a German U-boat torpedo attack, and served as a UN observer during Ghana's transition to independence. But he also smuggled weapons, gambled compulsively, and drank heavily. Most painfully, he destroyed his brilliant wife Mai, costing her inheritance, health, and ultimately her life. Before returning to Ireland, McNulty decides to confront his demons by writing his life story. His confession becomes both an admission of guilt and a love letter to the woman he lost through his own failures.
Genres: historical-fiction, 20th-century, biographical-fiction, africa
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: unreliable-narrator
Setting: Ghana, Ireland, Sligo, London
Period: 1957, World War II
320 pages · Hardcover · Steidl
Content warnings: alcohol-abuse, depression