About This Book
A thirty-year old woman travels to London to identify a body that has been fished out of the Thames; it is believed to be that of her brother, Billy. The narrative flashes back to the brutal murder of a teenage girl when Billy is regarded suspiciously by the neighbors, one of whom sends poison pen letters. A compelling, dramatic story of schizophrenia, murder and the rush to judgment; a story of prejudice and consequent tragedy. "The slim, moving novel depicts the life of Billy Reilly, a schizophrenic man whose gentle nature and fragile psyche are no match for life in modern Dublin. It's bad enough that Billy is neglected by his parents, treated badly at the halfway house where he lives and marginalized or rejected by society in general. But when Billy is wrongly implicated in the brutal murder of a young vagrant woman, his life becomes a nightmare.... Callaghan paints a bleak picture of the effects of prejudice and discrimination on the mentally ill, simultaneously noting the difficulties even healthy people have in coping with daily life. Without becoming mawkish or preachy, Callaghan delivers an effective indictment of society's failure to care for a vulnerable minority."-Publishers Weekly "A subtle, chilling portrayal of institutional cruelty, parental indifference and government warehousing...in this deft novel."-Kirkus Reviews, *Starred Review
