Desire and Pursuit by Frank Delaney (HarperCollins, £6.99 in UK)

`Burial is always a big symbol in a country where the land is what matters," says a character in Desire and Pursuit, and it's…

`Burial is always a big symbol in a country where the land is what matters," says a character in Desire and Pursuit, and it's hard to disagree as this uncannily topical, outlandishly emotional, sharply observed love story unfolds. Christopher Hunter is a journalist who is covering Ireland for an English quality paper; when he glimpses Ann Halpin, the daughter of a nouveau riche country bookmaker, on the day of her wedding to a brash business colleague of her father, he falls in love with her. He is destined to worship her from a distance, however, and in chapters narrated alternately by the two main protagonists, a horrifying tale of cruelty and breakdown emerges against a background of political unrest and social greed. Delaney has an unfailing grip on his material, and this is a quality page-turner - moving, compelling, satisfying.

Arminta Wallace