Four years ago I started writing a new novel. Six months from start to finish, I said to myself as I sat on a sunny apartment balcony in Spain and wrote the opening lines. The following spring – among the rugged rocks and wild Atlantic Way of the artist’s retreat in Cill Rialaig – I revised my prediction and thought…maybe I should give this book a year. Autumn came and I sat in the tranquil surroundings of the Tyrone Guthrie Centre and promised myself another six months. In b