Trinity student Charles Stanihurst, the son of a Dublin merchant and a Roscommon chambermaid, flees his native city after assaulting an English officer and heads for the West of Ireland, where he encounters a virtually unknown culture.

Beyond the Shannon much of the old Gaelic way of life is still intact, though under growing threat from the political power and land greed of the ""foreigners.""

Charles is forced to confront the divisions between his Anglo-Irish and Gaelic loyalties, while seeking his spiritual father, Bishop William Bedell, who is translating the Old Testament into Irish.

Set in 1641, on the eve of civil wars in England and Ireland, and Oliver Cromwell's devastating invasion of Ireland, this fascinating novel tells the gripping story of a struggle between two opposing cultures that set the scene for the rebellion sealing the fate of Gaelic Ireland.