Quiet City

Everything works out – except in the end. In the meantime, concentrate on temptations of the flesh; on naked desire. Being properly damned brings its own joy: that's what Richard Meadows is thinking on his way to the city dump to retrieve his wife's favourite chair, which he had thrown away earlier. And that's where he meets old flame Virginia Coates. So begins a dance of circumstance that feeds on Richard's newfound fearlessness, and his desire to be daring. Time to lean in to the danger.

How can a nice man like him get things so wrong? For some reason, the sudden closeness between Richard and Virginia doesn't yield the desired intimacy, doesn't satisfy the passion. It is Richard's wife, Gloria, who truly fastens on her chance for fulfilment.

Quiet City is a literate, satisfying work of fiction which crosses Richard Ford with Kinky Friedman, with a noir undercurrent. Spellbinding storytelling from a novelist at the height of his powers.



Quiet City is Philip Davison's ninth published novel. The others include The Crooked Man, McKenzie's Friend, The Long Suit and Eureka Dunes. The Crooked Man was adapted for television. His play, The Invisible Mending Company, was performed on the Abbey Theatre's Peacock stage. He has co-written two television dramas, Exposure and Criminal Conversation, and Learning Gravity, a documentary film on poet and undertaker Thomas Lynch. He has written twelve plays for radio. An adaptation of his novel Eureka Dunes was broadcast on RTÉ Radio 1 in 2019, and an original dramatisation of Quiet City was broadcast on the same station in 2020.