In Mountfern, life meanders as slowly as the river running through it. The pace has hardly changed since the great house burned down in the Troubles and its shell became an ivy-clad playground for the local children. But when Patrick O'Neill arrives from the States with grand plans to turn the ruins of Fernscourt into Ireland's finest hotel, ripples begin to appear on the surface calm of this backwater. Brimming with speculation about the wealthy, charming American, the little community wonders how he will affect their lives. Unfortunately, some will learn all too painfully that their peaceful world is about to be changed irreversibly, and that new friendships, passions and tragedies will destroy the old Mountfern forever. All the warmth and wit of Maeve Binchy's original novel is captured in this compelling BBC Radio 4 dramatisation, starring David Soul as Patrick O'Neill, with Lorcan Cranitch as John Ryan.
