Although technically competent, this book didn’t deliver for me. Murrin skilfully juggles multiple points of view, and he’s got a workable enough (albeit formulaic) plot, which focuses on three unsatisfactory Irish marriages (before divorce was legal in the republic). For me, the problem was the characters: stereotypical men . . . and two women at the novel’s centre, Izzy and Colette, who are bland, uninteresting, lacking in emotional depth, and ultimately unconvincing. While I think Murrin shows promise as a writer, I was bored by this mediocre novel. Hence the low rating. Nothing delighted, surprised, or stimulated me here, and I expect I’ll forget the whole thing in short order. ( )