Longford author Belinda McKeon signs copies of her book at Eason

One of the literary highlights of the year has to be Solace by Belinda McKeon. It is her debut novel and has been hailed as, 'an elegant, consuming and richly inspired novel, by Colum McCann, praise that is not unfounded.Solace tells the age-old Irish story of strained relationships between fathers and sons set in contemporary Ireland. The son, Mark Casey, has moved to live in Dublin, while the father, Tom, is running the farm single-handedly in County Longford.The problem is that Tom can't run the farm alone, but because he is of that generation of men, unable to communicate with their children, he never fully articulates what it is he wants from Mark. And Mark, who is a doctoral student at Trinity College, is too passive to ever truly stand up to his father's unspoken demands. But these parental obligations, and expectations, weigh on him heavily.Mark's pursuit isn't work at all, and he finds himself whiling away his time with pubs and parties. His is a life without focus or responsibility, until he meets Joanne Lynch, a trainee solicitor whom he finds irresistible. Joanne too has a past to escape from and for a brief time she and Mark share the chaos and rapture of a new love affair, until the lightning strike of tragedy changes everything.Solace is a work to be admired for bringing alive the rural experience and the conflicting values of contemporary Ireland, but is also a richly compelling love story.Belinda will be signing copies of Solace in Eason Mullingar this Saturday at 2.30pm.