SET IN BELFAST in the late sixties, Bernard MacLaverty"s latest novel takes us into Martin Brennan"s final semester of high school, when he finds old friendships tested and is forced to face the unknown future. Before he can become an adult, Martin must unravel the sacred and contradictory mysteries of religion, science, and sex; he must learn the value of friendship; but most of all he must pass his exams--at any cost. With characteristic "wise humor" (Publishers Weekly), MacLaverty "moves beyond the cloistered realm of school to capture the rhythms and pressures of provincial life, as well as [Martin"s] desire to overcome them." (Denver Post). This absorbing, often funny novel "turns high anxieties and pain into well wrought fiction. MacLaverty has a wider vision, greater depth and technical craft than J. D. Salinger, a more subtle style than William Golding and a moral imagination to match that of James Joyce" ([Toronto] Globe and Mail).