Elegy for April: A Novel [Paperback]

Quirke returns in the third volume of John Banvilles celebrated series

A junior doctor at a local hospital, April Latimer is a scandalous presence in the conservative and highly patriarchal society of 1950s Dublin: the independently-minded scion of a well-connected family, she has decidedly unconventional taste in men. When she vanishes, her friend Phoebe fears the worstand calls on her father, forensic pathologist Quirke, for help.

Sober again after intensive treatment for alcoholism, Quirke enlists his old sparring partner, Detective Inspector Hackett, in the search for the missing young woman. In their separate ways the two men retrace April's trail through Dublins seedier side. But as Quirke contends with a beguiling actress, racial tensions, and Aprils formidable family, Phoebe finds she is being watched&

Elegy for Aprilis a masterclass in tension and atmosphere from one of the best novelists in English (The Guardian).

JOHN BANVILLEwas born in Wexford, Ireland, in 1945. He is the author of numerous novels, includingThe Sea, which won the 2005 Booker Prize, and the DI Quirke mysteries. In 2011 he was awarded the Franz Kafka Prize, in 2013 he was awarded the Irish PEN Award for Outstanding Achievement in Irish Literature, and in 2014 he won the Prince of Asturias Award, Spains most important literary prize. He lives in Dublin.

Praise forElegy for April

Elegy for April[is] the best and most assured of the lot.
The New York Times

The writing has an elegance and nimbleness that surpass almost all other genre fiction.
Los Angeles Times

Gorgeously precise and expressive prose.
The Guardian

A beguiling read.
The Times(London)

A gorgeously sad and atmospheric book about family, lust, friendship and 50s-style repression.
The Seattle Times

lÃT