Gossamer

Sir James Digby has sold his County Cork estate and spends his time considering investments and observing other people. A meeting aboard a steamer in 1913 brings him into the company of Michael Gorman, an Irish politician whose public speeches and private wit reveal different sides of his patriotism. Digby tells the story from a later wartime moment, reflecting on national loyalty through his own uncertain sense of belonging and the troubles of Ascher, a financier.

George A. Birmingham gives this novel a conversational voice, full of dry remarks about class, religion and political conviction. The narrative moves from shipboard introductions to arguments over Ulster and a visit to Ascher's spacious London house. Personal acquaintance becomes a way of examining larger forces, including international finance and the claims that countries make on individuals. Readers interested in Irish affairs and social satire will find those subjects approached through an observant, questioning narrator.