THIS is a remarkably wonderful book. Yes, it’s yet another novel about an imaginary Irish village — called, this time, Faha. But this one is different. The story is told with quite extraordinary subtlety by an author who loves Ireland and its people — but loves them enough to encapsulate in pithy language the frustrations and challenges of rural life in Ireland.

Dr Jack Troy is the local GP. A steady stream of patients comes to the house. He keeps his feelings well out of sight — “he pursues the moustache.” He goes to mass, where the elderly priest is becoming increasingly senile. His daughter, Ronnie, cares for her father and supports his work. But she sees the “full of humanity in Faha — the inveterate layering of all Irish life where the most important things were never said”.

Then, one day, a baby is handed in to the house. Almost without time for reflection, Dr Troy takes it in, and Ronnie begins to care for it. She blossoms in motherhood. In the Irish context, of course, there is little that stirs emotion more than an abandoned baby. Surely Ronnie will never be allowed to keep the child as her own? So, what are they to do? They attempt to hide its presence. Dr Troy embarks on an increasingly improbable scheme to find a husband for Ronnie so that she can keep the child.

As I came towards the end of this book, I wondered whether the complex situations created by Niall Williams could possibly find a satisfying resolution in such a limited space. I didn’t need to worry. In a dramatic tour de force, bringing together family, community, and church — with a dash of faith-quickening narrative — we were suddenly there. And I was in tears.

The Rt Revd David Chillingworth is a former Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church.

Time of the Child
Niall Williams
Bloomsbury £16.99
978-1-5266-7516-3
Church Times Bookshop £15.29