Malachy Dudgeon has escaped the misery and madness of his childhood home and landed a job in the most famous school in Dublin. The headmaster, Raphael Bell, has overcome his own tragedies to forge a model career, but when Malachy Dudgeon and Raphael Bell meet, they become inextricably engaged in a macabre relationship which proves fatal to their fortunes and their sanity. McCabe can make you howl at the darkest antics ...He never sets a foot - or syllable - wrong. His novel is death on a laugh-support machine. Stupendous. - Scotland on Sunday. Raphael, the great headmaster, is a ...