James Holland

Derek Blore, MP, enjoys both a happy successful political career and a sideline in the suburbs. When his two political lives become confused, with an added Russian complication, he finds a national scandal engulfing him.

A penniless middle-aged spinster scrapes by giving piano lessons in the Dublin of the 1950s. She makes a sad last bid for love with a fellow resident of her rundown boarding house, who imagines she has the money to bankroll the business he hopes to open.