Between Dog and Wolf

'You need a little hypocrisy in you,' he told me more than once. 'You need to be a little tainted if you are not to be corrupted altogether.' The French call it entre chien et loup . . . Darkly moving, often shocking, this interwoven story follows three college students, desperately searching for a place between the familiar and the strange as they careen towards self- knowledge.Cassandra, volatile and scarred by loss, has been sculpted by the bohemian high life and then discarded. Oisín, a country boy pulsing with sexual aggression, is prone to equal flights of rage and compassion.And you, Helen. Helen, who takes these two fractured lives and dashes them against herself, creating ripples that twist and distort their images of what should be. In this stunning debut novel, each character forces the boundaries of normality, negotiating the chasms of their own violent sexuality and decay.'A dark, insightful and utterly compelling book. Beautifully written.'Author: Born in 1982, Elske Rahill graduated from Trinity College Dublin with an M.Phil in Creative Writing and Gender and Women's Studies. As an actor she appeared in the Abbey and Gate theatres. Author of the plays After Opium (2003) and How to Be Loved (2008), she is currently working on a short story collection. Her stories 'Manners' (2011) and 'Bride' (2012) were published in The Dublin Review. You need a little hypocrisy in you,' he told me more than once. You need to be a little tainted if you are not to be corrupted altogether.' The French call it entre chien et loup . . . Darkly moving, often shocking, this interwoven story follows three college students, desperately searching for a place between the familiar and the strange as they careen towards self- knowledge. Cassandra, volatile and scarred by loss, has been sculpted by the bohemian high life and then discarded. Oisín, a country boy pulsing with sexual aggression, is prone to equal flights of rage and compassion. And you, Helen. Helen, who takes these two fractured lives and dashes them against herself, creating ripples that twist and distort their images of what should be. In this stunning debut novel, each character forces the boundaries of normality, negotiating the chasms of their own violent sexuality and decay. A dark, insightful and utterly compelling book. Beautifully written.' Donal Ryan You need a little hypocrisy in you, he told me more than once. You need to be a little tainted if you are not to be corrupted altogether. The French call it entre chien et loup ... Darkly moving, often shocking, this interwoven story follows three college students, desperately searching for a place between the familiar and the strange as they careen towards self- knowledge. Cassandra, volatile and scarred by loss, has been sculpted by the bohemian high life and then discarded. Oisi ́n, a country boy pulsing with sexual aggression, is prone to equal flights of rage and compassion. And you, Helen. Helen, who takes these two fractured lives and dashes them against herself, creating ripples that twist and distort their images of what should be. In this stunning debut novel, each character forces the boundaries of normality, negotiating the chasms of their own violent sexuality and decay The campus of Trinity College Dublin serves as common ground between lectures, parties and sexual encounters as students Oisin and Helen embark on a relationship that will define and change them both, and Cassandra, Helen's best friend, sinks into a savage depression that threatens to engulf her. As the year draws to an end they come to understand more of themselves and less of one another, and learn that uncertainty and devotion can be powerful destructive forces.