TROUT, THE - Softcover

'Peter Cunningham's superbly crafted psychological thriller echoes the terse battle of wits between a wily angler and a wilier trout who has mastered how to hide unseen in plain sight.It is a masterly study of a man whose life is turned upside-down by childhood secrets in an Ireland where evil could hide in plain sight because nobody had the courage to confront it. Now the consequences of his past must be confronted, no matter at what danger to himself and to those he loves. Packed with canny and uncanny insight, The Trout grows into a mesmerising read.'-Dermot Bolger; 'A poet walks through these pages weaving time past and time present into sadness and grace.'-Paul Lynch, Red Sky in the Morning and Black Snow; 'With its woven motifs, its tragic memories and its reflection on the quest for beginnings, The Trout subtly explores an existence forever marked by a childhood trauma. The precise and masterful use of suspense makes this a thrilling and emotional novel.'-Le Mond, France; 'This sensitive and liberating investigation shows how hidden trauma, silences and lies can ruin a life, many lives.'-Ouest France; 'The subtle construction of this novel about trauma is supported by a writing which, also, hides behind appearances, as descriptive and vigorous, as psychological and poignant as the fear of a child late at night, when an adult puts a hand on his shoulder...'-TELERAMA

Alex and Kay began their relationship many years ago in Ireland where Alex was destined to become a priest. His father, a well-respected doctor, is immensely proud of him until the day Alex meets Kay, a meeting which changes Alex's life and his relationship with his father forever. Rejected by his father and his friends, Alex and Kay eventually settle in Canada to lead a normal family life. Normal life, however, is only a thin veneer covering a world of childhood secrets and lies and a letter arriving out of the blue triggers a long-buried guilt in Alex, leading him to risk all to track down its secrets. In a spellbinding story of one man's search for the crucial secret locked in his memory since childhood, The Trout bursts up through the conventions and falsehoods of the past and hangs, beautiful and shimmering, in the clear and vital light of truth.