Orphaned at a young age, Cahal Kinsella returns from Dublin to the small farming village of Caherlo to his tyrannical grandfather, and must assert his individuality if he is to have any hope of freedom from his misery.

Walter Macken paints a haunting and memorable portrait of the hard life of subsistence farming, or loveless arranged marriages, and of rebellion against suffering from social mores.

Originally written in 1952, New Island’s Modern Irish Classics series brings this magical book back to life. With new introduction by Nuala O'Connor for 2020 Edition.

‘Comic…touching…skilfully told…excellent’—Spectator

‘Walter Macken’s writing is as beautiful as it is simple, his prose is accessible and is constantly moving…[Macken] humanizes history, reminding readers that the people who lived in these times laughed, cried, hated and loved just as they do now’—GTI Gazette"