A Man Flourishing

James Gault, a young divinity student, deserts his studies to join the United Irishmen in the abortive rebellion of 1798. He never reaches the stricken field at Ballynahinch, but he has taken the United Oath and is a hunted man. He flees his home and his sweetheart, Kate Purdie, and travels by night to Belfast, seeking a passage to America. Pursued through the alleys of the town, he finds refuge with the sinister Doctor Bannon of Legg s Lane, dealer in merchandise and crime. After months in hiding, Gault is still unable to secure a passage on an American-bound vessel. Encouraged by the Doctor he emerges, little by little, from Legg s Lane to engage in small business deals. He discovers a town where revolutionary ardour is vanishing under the growing prosperity of its citizens. As his commercial skill grows, so does his worldly ambition. He marries Kate and sets his sights on social success. But the past is not dead, and Gault s bourgeois world is rocked by blackmail and murder. A fascinating novel, its people are real people caught up in events even more terrifying than those of today, in times even more cruel and violent. Belfast Telegraph A sense of period and place. Helps to explain how the present Troubles are rooted in past battles, military and economic, which still haunt the Irish imagination. Times Literary Supplement


Genre: Historical