Colum Mccann's First Novel Goes Back To The Years Before The Spanish Civil War, Following The Adventures Of A Peripatetic Irish Photographer From The War-strewn Shores Of Europe To The Exotic Plains Of Mexico. The Story Is Told In The Words Of The Photographer's Only Son, A Wanderer Himself, Who Uses His Father's Unreliable Memories And The Fading Remnants Of His Art To Piece Together His Family History And Explain The Mystery Surrounding His Mother - A Mexican Beauty Brought Back By His Father To Ireland.