(Hodder and Stoughton, 2002. Paperback edition, Coronet 2003) Synopsis : Two worlds: Ireland, l902 is a country precariously balanced between a turbulent past and uncertain future in which the growth of the nation has begun, in confusion. In Africa, at the same time, the people of the Congo Free State, King Leopold 11 of Belgium's Congo Free State suffer the nightmare of slavery, genocide and torture. Through the story of Nessa O'Grady, her own life a reflection of the change and disintegration in the once powerful land-owning classes, events in both countries are linked and paralleled. Historical fact meets drama. Excerpts : Opening excerpt The steamboat which took me upriver to the station outpost at Pongara was called Le Roi Leopold. The Africans called it kutu kutu, because of the sound it made. It was long and narrow, with two decks. The Africans also called it 'the house that walks on the water'. -----The river was the River Congo and it was wide and winding, alive with terrors, endless. -----Even on the upper deck of Le Roi Leopold, where there were cabins for Europeans and Americans and awnings against the tropical sun, the heat was like a leaden weight. It dried in my throat when I breathed in, dried in the baking barricade of air when I breathed out. The sky, on this second morning of my journey upriver, was the same remorseless blue it had been the day before, and on all of the days before that since my arrival in Africa. ----- No one had told me about the sky, or the heat. Not really told me. Nothing I'd heard or learned or read before coming had even half-prepared me for the relentless nature of the African sun. Nor for the teeming mayhem, the noise, the colours, the smells. ----- The cruelties. ----- The confusion I felt. ----- The longing for home. Later excerpt Very early one morning, at the end of my first week at Pongara, a man came out of the forest. He crossed the compound until he came to the clearing in front of the house. When he was within a couple of feet he stopped and called Thomas by name, twice. ----- 'Thomas Cooper!' His voice rose and echoed. 'Thomas Cooper!' ----- From the window I watched him standing there, waiting. He was carrying something wrapped in blue cloth. After a minute he moved closer. When he got as far as the edge of the veranda he leaned forward, opened the cloth and gently laid out two human hands, both of them severed just above the wrist, on the dusty boards. ----- They were small. Children's hands. The curl of the fingers made them seem to be pleading. ----- I lifted my own hands to my face. The movement attracted the attention of the man and he lifted his head. His eyes, staring at me, might have been staring into hell. Thomas came out onto the veranda and said something to the man, who gestured to the hands. My husband replied by kicking them from the veranda. He did this with enough force to send them some distance beyond where the man was standing. The man, without a word, walked stiffly to where they lay and returned holding them in front of him. Tears fell in a river down his face. ----- I went outside and stood behind Thomas. ----- 'Get back into the house.' He didn't turn and his voice was thick. I stayed where I was. The man was looking at me again. I was reminded of the mute pleading in the eyes of Kilgallen's dog and couldn't have moved to save my life. Reviews :  "Rose Doyle's penetrating descriptions of turn of the century Ireland have set her out as one of the great writers of the current generation." (Eoghan Corry. In Dublin)       ...Click on titles below for more info   (Hodder and Stoughton, November 2004) (New Island, November 2004)  (New Island, November 2004)   (Hodder and Stoughton, September 2003) (Hodder and Stoughton, September 2003) (Hodder and Stoughton, 2002. Paperback edition, Coronet 2003) (Pan Macmillan 2002) (Townhouse / Pan Macmillan 2000) (Townhouse / Pan Macmillan 1999) (Townhouse / Macmillan l945. Reprinted Pan Books l999) Townhouse / Macmillan l996. Reprinted Pan books l999) (Townhouse / Macmillan l994. Reprinted Pan books l995 & l999.) (Marino l996) (Marino l995) (Poolbeg l992) (Attic / Cork University Press, l992. Bisto Award Winning) (Poolbeg l991) (Poolbeg l985)