This very well-known collection of short stories was the subject of a notorious case of censorship in 1993. The Supreme Court in Dublin supported a government decision banning the publication of the book. Since then its international success has been complete, being translated into Italian, Spanish, German, Basque, and now Galician.

"All stories have a certain elegiac quality, a feeling that something important is disappearing, getting lost. As in his other works, Adams reflects the collective memory, because the streets and people he describes are more loyal to the past than to the present. The tenderness of Adams’ writing comes from the man's affection for his past ... A Rúa shows that Adams is a good writer".