Pat Shortt can trace his name back five generations in rural Offaly. What appears to be a life of poverty and evictions turns around in the 1850s with the arrival of the railroad in Birr. Three generations of his family made their livelihoods on the tracks.
Music, ambition and invention brings Pat to London to follow the footsteps of his grandfather’s siblings right to the heart of World War II where he discovers the secret work carried out by his mysterious granduncle Brendan during the Blitz.
On his maternal side, Pat discovers a side to his stern grandmother that he had never known before and finally by delving more deeply into his little known maternal side an unexpected door is opened to a murder mystery which gripped Ireland involving one of his ancestors. On the surface, a petty land dispute, but in reality a dark tale of infidelity and intrigue.
