The wannabe artists of West Cork are at the centre of this tale of two love affairs; and a pretentious, self-important lot they are, too. Tony - young, talented and insecure - falls for an older woman who happens to be a famous English painter. Gabriel - handsome, rich and self-confident - seduces his young, slatternly housekeeper. One of the relationships turns out to be nurturing and creative, the other spirals into violence and catastrophe. Wassell is not afraid of the physical side of love, and her use of a plain, pared-down language is admirable. But the relentlessly symmetrical plot, the reduction of the stunning landscapes of West Cork to a sort of soporific visual backdrop and the all-too-predictable appearance of the IRA ceasefires push The Thing He Loves to the wrong side of the simple/simplistic divide.
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