"History of the Rain" is a beautifully written novel that celebrates the power of storytelling, the love of books and the healing power of imagination. It follows the story of Plain Ruth Swain as she searches for her father through the history of her ancestors. The novel's unique feature is its poetic prose that sings in every sentence. If you enjoy novels with a strong sense of place, complex family dynamics, and a touch of magical realism, then this book is for you.

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• Booker Prize Nominee for Longlist (2014)

Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2014, a sparkling new novel from the author of 'Four Letters of Love'.Bedbound in her attic room beneath the falling rain, in the margin between this world and the next, plain Ruth Swain is in search of her father. To find him, enfolded in the mystery of ancestors, Ruthie must first trace the jutting jaw lines, narrow faces and gleamy skin of the Swains from the restless Reverend Swain, her great-grandfather, to grandfather Abraham, to her father, Virgil – via pole-vaulting, leaping salmon, poetry and the three thousand, nine hundred and fifty eight books piled high beneath the two skylights in her room, beneath the rain.The stories – of her golden twin brother Aeney, their closeness even as he slips away; of their dogged pursuit of the Swains’ Impossible Standard and forever falling just short; of the wild, rain-sodden history of fourteen acres of the worst farming land in Ireland – pour forth in Ruthie’s still, small, strong, hopeful voice. A celebration of books, love and the healing power of the imagination, this is a funny, moving novel in which every sentence sings.

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