A retired international Vatican diplomat, Jerry O'Sullivan becomes the parish priest of a tiny coastal Irish village, but he soon finds himself in the midst of a controversy over alleged miracles at a tacky local shrine.

Returning to the village of Brulagh introduced in his highly praised debut The Neon Madonna, Dan Binchy's hilarious second novel offers a delightful tale of the eccentricities of rural life in the Republic of Ireland. Luke Diverali, a suave, sophisticated American, is touring Ireland in an attempt to escape from a rather inconvenient investigation into his banking activities. His speculator's eye finds Brulagh not only attractive but, more importantly, ripe for development. If he can only overcome the obstacles that present themselves, both in business and in love, he can see huge profits just over the horizon. Luke encounters familiar characters from The Neon Madonna, such as the endearing Father Jerry, as well as a host of new ones - at the races, at the dances, and in his relentless pursuit of money. But in the funny, unconventional, and completely absorbing Ireland of Dan Binchy's tale nothing turns out quite as planned.

In the continuing chronicles of Brulagh, the small southern Irish backwater first introduced in his internationally bestselling The Neon Madonna and The Last Resort, Dan Binchy delights again in the shenanigans of his now well-known characters in this wonderfully slapstick satirical tale.Mick Flannery is determined to be elected to the European Parliament and desperately seeks a gimmick to fire the imagination of the voters. When his plan to make Brulagh pier a state-of-the-art dock for coal barges from Kentucky falls through, he dreams up a hare-brained scheme to produce peat pellets from the adjacent bog. The trouble is, Mick is having problems finding someone to finance the "ecologically acceptable fuel" project. But just when he thought his luck had run out, help comes from an unlikely source.... When Chief Okansu is stranded in Brulagh after a coup in his own Central African republic, he is to become the perfect deus ex machina for Mick Flannery and his ambitious scam.Meanwhile, there is a conflict afoot when Luke and Aphra's plan to stage a fund-raising rock concert for the local Leisure Center faces strong opposition from Father Jerry and Donnelly, the bank manager.In Fireballs we meet again some familiar characters from The Neon Madonna and The Last Resort, and a batch of exciting new ones. But true to Dan Binchy's own inimitable style, chaos, disaster, and hilarious antics are just around the corner for the residents of Brulagh, the tiny village where nothing ever goes according to plan.