Found on the very top shelf of the labyrinthine second-hand bookshop under the town hall. The English section is just a few shelves in a tiny cubbyhole and I had to wait while one client looked through all the books before I could get in.

Who is Cyril Avery? A kind-hearted gay man, born in the wrong place at the wrong time and adopted by the wrong people. His life and loves. A bit of Who do you think you are? and "Long Lost Families". The horror and hypocrisy of the Irish Catholic Church. There's love and violence and murder, and sometimes it made me laugh. Very readable.

it's on your wishlist! Hope you like it, I did!

Thank you very much for this Wishlist book, I hope to enjoy it too after many recommendations. Lovely to meet you at the Convention.

I was a little overwhelmed with the size of the book when it was first gifted to me as I am always slow to pick up books of more than 500 pages. But, I made a start on it whilst travelling and made it my book to read on the plane heading home.
I was very quickly immersed in this saga of the life of Cyril Avery. A new section every seven years of his life which chronicled not only his life but the political and social climate of the time. The Catholic Church and the Irish population in general did not come out well in this story of Cyril growing up as an adoptive son and homosexual. I shed a few tears throughout the book and was totally immersed in it. The writing was powerful, I could hear the Irish accents throughout and lived the times portrayed (I related to a lot of it being only a few years younger than our fictional Cyril).
I rated it down slightly as I was a little disappointed with the ending, which seemed more like the writer was tying up the story in a nice package after all the trauma and drama that had been the life of Cyril.