Consequences of the Heart

Chud Conduit, the wild grandson of the most successful businesswoman in Monument, and Anglo-Irish Jack Santry, the gentle heir to Main, the big estate on the hill, are unlikely friends. Bound by their shared love for Rosa and then by a terrible event that flings all three adolescents from their garden of Eden, Jack and Chud meet again on the beaches of France where acts of bravery and cowardice determine the course of the rest of their lives in ways that neither can anticipate. It is Jack who wins Rosa's hand in marriage, and in this constellation all three embark on adult life, each equally devoted to a love triangle that is stronger than social convention. Peter Cunningham's second novel set in the fictional town of Monument is an epic narrative of the lives of three people formed by their time but stubbornly independent of everything beyond their mutual love.