The Brennans are a working-class family from Dublin's inner city. In nearby rural County Kildare (but almost a world away) are the Byrnes, a family of farm labourers who work for Major O'Kelly, a landowner of Irish Ascendancy descent. Events about to unfold will change everything.
The genesis of this book, Liam recalls, lies in a story that his mother used to relate to him as a young boy, of a soldier being fatally wounded in a field that they would pass on their Sunday walks. The incident occurred during Ireland's Civil War and it stoked an interest in him that he would often return to.
