Desire and Pursuit - Softcover

Delaney, Frank

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0002258080 ISBN 13: 9780002258081

Publisher: HarperCollins, 1998

Synopsis

A mystery story of great emotional power, told in rich language and crackling dialogue.

Ann Halpin always believed she was born into the wrong family. The nouveau-riche values of her bookmaker father, Joss, and his name-dropping wife, Moya, disturb and embarrass her. To exact revenge for her ‘snobbery’ they manoeuvre her into an abusive marriage with her father’s brutish, wise-cracking business manager, Joey.

But at her wedding reception in February 1972, she is observed by an English journalist, Christopher Hunter, who is lunching at the hotel. He, a turbulent and withdrawn man, blooded in the savage intrigues of the Troubles, instantly falls in love with her. Thereafter, Christopher obsessively pursues his vision of possessing this beautiful and grave girl whom he has only glimpsed one bright winter day, though she does not even know he exists.

About this title

Review:

‘A powerful blend of romance and hard political fact.’
Mail on Sunday

‘A compelling tale from a writer fully in control of his craft.’
Daily Mirror

‘Two first-person narratives twisted together into a fat plait of a story. I kept turning the pages.’
Independent

‘Powerfully realised... telling parallels between marital cruelty and sectarian violence.’
The Times

‘A fast-moving story, embellished with such incident that it seems unimaginable that the next page could yield even more shocks.’
Irish Independent

‘Complex, sharply observed. There is a magnificent twist in the tail, which brings the story rushing to a satisfying ending.’
Irish Times

‘Has the poet’s eye for an arresting image, as well as a clear understanding of the psychology of loneliness, of fear, of jealousy.’
Magill Magazine

From the Back Cover:

Frank Delaney’s 'tour de force, Desire and Pursuit' is a mystery story of great emotional power, told in rich language and crackling dialogue.

Ann Halpin always believed she was born into the wrong family. The 'nouveau- riche' values of her bookmaker father, Joss, and his name-dropping wife Moya, disturb and embarrass her. For her aloofness and superior air her parents punish her – she is trapped into marriage with her father’s brutish, wise-cracking business manager, Joey, who devastates her. After enduring horrors, she decides upon revenge – and then discovers it is curiously unfulfilling.
Parallel with Ann’s story speaks the voice of an Englishman, Christopher Hunter, Ireland correspondent for a London newspaper. In February 1972 he sees Ann – on her wedding day – and falls violently in love with her. He discovers where she lives and watches her from a distance. When she disappears, he is distraught. Then he stumbles upon a bizarre story about a dead child. As he investigates, it becomes clear to the reader – but not to Christopher – that the solution to this mystery may bring him his heart’s desire and bring Ann the respectability she craves.
DESIRE AND PURSUIT

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0002258080
• ISBN 13: 9780002258081
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 400