On a small island off the northern Irish coast in the mid-nineteenth century, a sailor is washed ashore and dies in the arms of Mary, whose visions of this "demon lover" inhabit the most intimate reaches of her heart and mind until her own death.
It is four generations later in Canada, where Mary brought her children to escape the potato famine, that her great-granddaughter Esther tries to make sense of Mary's life and the obscurities surrounding her family's history.
Sensual and evocative, 'Away' blends idealism with reality and materialism with magic, creating a novel of lyrical power and haunting beauty.
