Seven years in the making, the themes of this book - politics, desire, terror, love, loss, and flight - have powerful resonance today, after Ireland's disastrous economic crash. It takes its title from the vast developments of surplus houses all over Ireland, built in the glory of the Celtic Tiger, and now eerily empty. William Wall is the author of two previous collections of poetry, four novels, and a volume of short fiction. He has won numerous prizes including the Patrick Kavanagh Award and the Listowel Writers' Week prize, and been nominated for many more, including the Man Booker Prize.