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The stunning new novel by one of Ireland's finest writers
The year is 1942, and Drane - pronounced "Dreen" - is the most boring town in Ireland. There is no public transport, and someone is scrambling the wireless signals; Mrs Miniver is banned by the censor; and there are no half-crown hops at the locked-up town hall. The only diversions are the shows put on by the local amateurs, the Standing Ovations, and the old films at the Picture House.
But if life is dull, last evening's "fillum" is always worth re-living. In the home of Judge Garrity, the eighteen-year-old Timmy calls his father "Sir" and the pair have "man-to-man" talks, like Andy Hardy and the Judge. Hansy Mueller, a minor German diplomat, has a fateful encounter with the actors Michéal Mac Liammóir and Hilton Edwards. Sunny Day, a blonde star in the making, joins the Standing Ovations in The Great Waltz. And Canon Turmoyle has been keeping a sensational diary.
Which is not to forget Doctor Moone, who styles himself after his look-alike, Doc Boone in Stagecoach, and goes looking for a showdown with the dastardly Plummer brothers in the streets of Lordsburg. As the narrator Perry Perry, tells his wife Babs, "We aren't in Kansas any more." Or aren't they?
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About Hugh Leonard Hugh Leonard was born in Dublin. He is the author of numerous plays including The Poker Session and The Au Pair Man, the screenplay for the film Widow's Peak, and TV adaptations of Great Expectations, Nicholas Nickleby, The Moonstone, Wuthering Heights and Good Behaviour. His novelisation of his 4-part drama Parnell and the Englishwoman (BBC) won the 1992 Sagittarius Award. He has published two volumes of autobiography, Home Before Night and Out After Dark, and was Literary Editor at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin in 1976-77. He lives in Dalkey in County Dublin.
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