Description

It is 1939, the outbreak of World War Two, and ten year old Ryan Brannigan newly arrived from Ireland experiences the horrors and excitement of war. A rebellious lad in conflict with the parish priest, Father O’Donnell, his teachers, and his father, as well as the Church, he forms an uneasy relationship with Nadina Brown, a vulnerable, ultra-religious, highly sensitive, intelligent girl of the same age. Ryan’s father, Fergus, an armchair warrior of the IRA due to a wound sustained in the Easter Rising of 1916, strongly suspects the priest of abusing the girl, though she strenuously denies it. Convinced that she is scared to tell the truth, he hurries round to the presbytery to find O’Donnell gone back to Ireland and a priest to replace him arriving the very next day. Angry and frustrated, Fergus rushes to the police station to demand action, but his complaints are contemptuously dismissed. Ryan, confused over the turn of events has taken a thorough dislike towards Nadina. But soon he will discover the truth and his compassion for her and desire for revenge will know no bounds.