Equally as well known as a writer of short stories as he is a novelist, Bernard MacLaverty, as have many other Irish writers, has gone the way of exile--in his case, choosing life in Scotland over life in his native Northern Ireland. That choice does not make MacLaverty an anomaly among his peers, but the peace of mind that has come to him with exile does make MacLaverty something of a rare breed among Irish writers. In the forward to his anthology Ireland in Exile: Irish Writers Abroad (1993), editor Dermot Bolger identifies "a new breed of Irish writer abroad--writers who have turned their backs on a country which has long since turned its back on them." MacLaverty, however, is not one of Bolger's new breed. The authors Bolger identifies rage at their exile in London, Paris, or New York but feel out of place and uncomfortable visiting Dublin...