Bernard MacLaverty

'Midwinter Break is a work of extraordinary emotional precision and sympathy, about coming to terms - to an honest reckoning - with love and the loss of love, with memory and pain. Full of scenes that are rendered with exquisite accuracy and care, allowing the most detailed physical descriptions to be placed against the possibility of a rich spiritual life, this is a novel of great ambition by an artist at the height of his powers.' Colm T ibYn Sixteen years on from his last novel, Bernard MacLaverty reminds us why he is regarded as one of the greatest living Irish writers. A retired couple, Gerry and Stella Gilmore, fly from their home in Scotland to Amsterdam for a long weekend. A holiday to refresh the senses, to do some sightseeing and generally to take stock of what remains of their lives. Their relationship seems safe, easy, familiar - but over the course of the four days we discover the deep uncertainties which exist between them. Gerry, once an architect, is forgetful and set in his ways. Stella is tired of his lifestyle, worried about their marriage and angry at his constant undermining of her religious faith. Things are not helped by memories which have begun to resurface of a troubled time in their native Ireland. As their midwinter break comes to an end, we understand how far apart they are - and can only watch as they struggle to save themselves. Bernard MacLaverty is a master storyteller, and Midwinter Break is the essential MacLaverty novel- accurate, compassionate observation, effortlessly elegant writing and a tender, intimate, heart-rending story - but it is also a profound examination of human love and how we live together, a chamber piece of real resonance and power. Forty years on from his first book, Bernard MacLaverty has written his masterpiece.

Midwinter Break

Gemma McCarthy

Sometimes after the news she read for a while in the silence. The sound of a page turning. The absence of talk.

She pressed the button and when the lift began to move they kissed. It was a habit they had developed, to kiss lightly when alone in a lift. Between floors. 

 “Why? Did you think itd be a turn-on - like sleeping with a Priest?” 

“Priests usually have enough independence to choose their own pyjamas.”

But Gerry thought of the hand holding as an intimacy – different to 'hooking on'. It was skin to skin. The snugness of the fit. The hands made for each other.

He had to cross a main road rumbling with traffic and reached out to take Stella by the hand before realising she wasn't with him. His hand went to his pocket to disguise the empty gesture.

Gerry said: "I love you more than Coco Pops.'

There was silence between them until Stella said, “ln spite of everything, I believe that people are really good at heart.”

“Do you really believe that?”Stella smiled.

“Yes. A quote from Anne Frank” said Gerry.

The skyline had the sharpness of an etching

For the curtains of cream to cascade and form a white priestly collar 

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