The Blue Pool

emotionally charged novel of family tensions, tragedy and love. Set in the rural heartland of mid-20th century Ireland this is a p owerful indictment of the futility of conflict and hatred. Out of the relationship between one man and the land of his ancestors Tom Nestor has created a fiction that rises above the ordinary and will have wide appeal. He paints the ageless themes of family love and misunderstandings, sibling rivalry and motherly love with a new brush. As Hugh Dawley looks down from the stony and arduous fields of his farm on Mount Fierna it is not surprising he covets the richer pastures of Barton Hall Estate - land which once belonged to his own ancestors. Obsession with the idea of wresting it back - reminiscent of The Field - he plans to enlist the aid of his sons. But he is not the only influence on the boys' lives. His wife Elizabeth has other plans. Motivated by an entirely different 'vision', the dreams and aspirations she has for her children go far beyond the mountain. What follows is a collision course of parental conflict and sibling rivalry as the bitterness and hatred of old come face to face with the radical and the new.