A powerful novel from one of Ireland's best writers on the turbulent birth of a nation, and the lovers it divides. 'A terrific novel. Moving and hugely entertaining.' - Roddy Doyle Ireland 1945. Young and beautiful, Iz begins a life on the south-east coast with her new husband. As she settles in to try and make her life by the sea, circumstances that have brought Iz to Monument are shrouded in mystery. The war in Europe is over, and change is about to brush away the old order. Soaring across the decades that follow Ireland's newly won independence, sweeping across the fierce class issues and battles over land ownership that once defined Irish society, The Sea and the Silence is an epic love story set inside the fading grandeur of the Anglo-Irish class.