Books by Niall Williams

Francis Foley is a proud, stubborn man, and cannot stand to be beholden to anyone. Quick to anger and slow to forgiveness, it is his temper that, one day, costs his sons their home - and their mother. This will not be the last of their losses however: as the four boys and their father embark on an odyssey to find untenanted land they can call their own, their already diminished family is divided further. But if a combination of choice and chance cause the five to separate and scatter, each to their own road, then a series of casual encounters and coincidences offer some hope for reunion and - in Francis's case - redemption. Set in Ireland in the mid-nineteenth century, The Fall of Light traces the footsteps of the five Foley men. With elegant, elegiac prose, Niall Williams guides his characters through hazard and hardship, friendship, love and death, across the world . . . and home again.

A mesmerising new novel from the author of the bestselling Four Letters of Love

After the critically acclaimed Boy in the World, comes the follow-up novel from bestselling author, Niall WilliamsBoy and Man follows J as he continues in his search for his father. We left him in Ethiopia under the caring wing of Sister Bridget. But he still feels the pull to find his missing father - the link between his past and his future, and the piece that will link up the jigsaw puzzle of his life. He sets off to search Europe once again.As moving and poetic as Boy in the World, Boy and Man will appeal both to Niall Williams's admirers and also fans of Paulo Coelho.

Jim Foley loves his parents, his brother, his sister, Dickens and God; later, he loves Kate -- enough to make her his wife and to shape his life around her -- and later still, he loves his children, Jack and Hannah. Only Say the Word tells Jim's story, and the story of the people and places in his life, as he moves from childhood to marriage and fatherhood, from early days spent in County Clare to early adulthood in America, and back to Clare once more. Deeply personal and written in his lyrical, lilting prose, Niall Williams's fourth novel is about unspoken emotions, undying devotion and blind faith -- but, ultimately, about the redeeming, enduring nature of love.

Love is not easy, especially if you find the woman of your dreams and then lose her - as Philip Griffin and his son Stephen each discover in turn. Stephen is just a boy when his mother and sister are killed in a car crash, and his father never recovers from the accident: he wasn't involved but is consumed by grief, his only desire to be reunited with his wife. Before that happens, though, Philip wants to ensure the happiness of his son, Stephen - now a grown man. 'As it is in Heaven, Niall Williams' tale of love and tragedy, will leave you in tears' Tatler 'A bitter-sweet novel about passionate love giving way to commitment, grief to a sort of healing' Irish Times 'A tender and sober novel with a faith in romance that is absolute' Daily Express 'Delicious coincidence and tragedy, as extraordinary lives unravel and intertwine' Guardian