Open-handed

The place is Dublin. The time is the present. Five characters - two Irish, three from eastern Europe, all seeking success from wildly different starting points - become entangled with one another in a web of politics, property, sex and violence. Chris Binchy's novel is a beautifully observed portrait of a place and a time, and a thrillingly paced story of an unforgettable group of characters brought together by circumstance, ambition and need.