"Five toasts. Five people. One lifetime" --Front cover.

A tale of a single night. The story of a lifetime. If you had to pick five people to sum up your life, who would they be? If you were to raise a glass to each of them, what would you say? And what would you learn about yourself, when all is said and done? This is the story of Maurice Hannigan, an Irish farmer. Over the course of a Saturday night in June, he orders five drinks at the Rainsford House Hotel, and with each he toasts a key person from his life: his adored older brother; his troubled sister-in-law; his daughter of fifteen minutes; his son far off in America; and his late, much missed wife. Through these people, the ones who have left him behind, he tells the story of his own life, with all its regrets and feuds, loves and triumphs.