History of the Rain

This is an important new book and the rewards increase tenfold the further into the story one gets * Radio Times, Book at Bedtime *A surge of language, beautiful and enchanting, a novel that weaves a love of literature into its own moving tale * Guardian *Extremely moving, poignantly capturing Ruth’s doomed childhood relationship with her twin brother. By the final chapter I was weeping * Sunday Times *The Anne Enright award for the Irish novel most guaranteed to make you cry … Niall Williams wins this year’s award on the strength of his title alone … Suffused with warmth and humour * Independent on Sunday *Deeply allusive, infectiously hopeful … Somewhere between bildungsroman, epic and family saga, History of the Rain is an unashamedly unfashionable, lyrical paean to the pleasure of reading and to serendipity … A fresh and powerful reminder that: “We tell stories to heal the pain of living * Daily Telegraph *A beautiful, poetic tale … One to read slowly and savour * irish Independent *

Niall Williams was born in Dublin in 1958. His critically acclaimed and bestselling fiction has been shortlisted for the Irish Times Literature Prize and longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the IMPAC Award. Williams’ debut novel Four Letters of Love, an international bestseller, has been adapted by the author for screen and will star Helena Bonham-Carter, Pierce Brosnan and Gabriel Byrne. His most recent novel Time of the Child was an instant Irish Times bestseller and was awarded the Kerry Group Novel of the Year Award. He lives in Kiltumper in County Clare, with his wife, Christine.