Cecil and Noreen

The sequel to the admired Last Light Breaking.A poignant, subtle, and amusing love story in which an elderly couple - Cecil and Noreen - reminisce about their courtship and marriage. In a nursing home, Cecil recollects and relives the marriage through the aide-memoir of Noreen's preserved letters, kept in a box at his bedside. Noreen visits the ailing Cecil twice daily, and provides a more reliable version of the events the letters describe. Both are committed Catholics. The novel opens with their first meeting at church, at which Noreen accidentally floors Cecil with a ceremonial banner. Beautifully-written and deeply compassionate, Cecil & Noreen is a novel which ennobles the 'ordinary' lives of its characters. Born in Cardiff, Patrick Corcoran was educated at Atlantic College, St Donats, and at Bristol University. He has won several prizes for his short stories, and was a finalist in The Daily Telegraph short story competition. He works for the Family Court Advisory Service, and is married with three children.