Sweet Old World by Deborah Robertson

THE Irish island of Inishmore is the perfect setting for a tale of love gone wrong and opportunities lost.

THE Irish island of Inishmore is the perfect setting for a tale of love gone wrong and opportunities lost.

 With its wild beauty and isolation, it is a destination for tourists as well as those who are hiding from a world that has not quite delivered all that it promised.

And that is exactly where we find David Quinn, longing for a family that has eluded him over the years.

Describing himself as "more Australian with a splash of Irish'', Quinn is a journalist living on his own in a cottage on Inishmore, helping his sister who is struggling to make a living out of an 18th-century guesthouse while he also finishes writing a book.

It is a not an unpleasant life, with three nephews to run after and friends who visit from Galway. But Quinn wants to be a father and, at the age of 43, it is becoming an overwhelming need.

But before Quinn is allowed to wallow in his longing, Deborah Robertson introduces Ettie, a fellow Australian from Fremantle - a young woman travelling on her own, a breath of fresh air in a world that has become stale.

When she suffers a life-threatening accident, Quinn has the chance to help while she is in hospital, feeling a responsibility similar to a father for a daughter. There is hope and even more so when an unexpected romance enters his life.

With Sweet Old World, the author captures what life could be like for a man who is longing for a huge gap in his life to be filled. Her writing is heartfelt, a touching representation of a man troubled by a loss he may never come to terms with and the hope that can keep him going.

Sweet Old World by Deborah Robertson
Vintage, $32.95