Terrifically evocative of the British Empire's decline in Ireland--and darkly hilarious, too--this is a plum of a read. You couldn't do better on an idle day than to pick this page-turner up. Farrell, who dissected the Empire in this and two other novels-- The Singapore Grip (Item SGP13) and The Siege of Krishnapur (IDA240) -- never misses a ruling-class absurdity or a violent undercurrent.  (IRE171, $16.95)