Irish man of letters MacNamara is perhaps best known for his brilliantly perceptive satire, The Valley of the Squinting Windows (1918), but it is this, his sixth novel, published in 1929, which is considered his most innovative work.... It is a fascinating example of early-twentieth century Irish writing, in which tradition follow writers such as Flann O'Brien and John Banville.--Publishers Weekly. "[This is] easily the author's best book.... The novel is a fabulist satire, or a satirical - fantasy. The novel has variously been characterized as a meditation on the autonomy of literature, on the immortality of the artist, existence, non-being and reality."--Rudiger Imhof, The Irish Times. "A good addition to literature collections."--Library Journal.