Only Say the Word — Niall Williams

Jim Foley loves his parents, his brother, his sister, Dickens and God; later, he loves Kate -- enough to make her his wife and to shape his life around her -- and later still, he loves his children, Jack and Hannah. This is Jim's story, from his early days in County Clare to early adulthood in America, and then back to Clare again. From happy-ever-after to death-do-us-part; from beginnings to endings to fresh starts; from child, to husband to father, it is the story of the people and places in Jim's life; the story of his hopes, his fears and fantasies, his ever-evolving relationships and the books that remain always constant, even while his family and future are uncertain. Deeply personal and written in Niall William's lyrical, lilting prose, Only Say the Word is both a love letter and a story about love, in its many forms and guises. About unspoken and unrequited love, about undying devotion, untested or unquestioning faith, about the death of love and loved ones, and the love that outlives them all, about god, home and family, about ties that bind and sometimes divide, about unconditional love and love with strings attached, Williams's fourth novel is ultimately about the redeeming, enduring nature of love -- the belief that, sometimes, when it's all you have, love has to be enough.