In Dublin, 1966, 23-year-old Jerry Burke quits his soul-destroying job in the Irish civil service to make a new life for himself in Canada and put behind him a dark secret from his republican past.

At the same time, he undertakes to find out what happened to his ancestor, Diarmuid Burke, who came to Canada in 1847, the most devastating year of the Irish potato famines.

Far as Jerry can discover, his ancestor did make it over to Canada, but why was he never heard from again?

The mystery finally starts to unravel in 1992, when Jerry learns that his ancestor kept a detailed diary account of his journey and that the journal has survived as an essential first-hand chronicle of this lamentable period in Irish history.

Brian Brennan is an Irish-born writer who has lived and worked in Canada since 1966. He makes his home in Calgary, Alberta, where he has worked as a journalist and author, publishing eight books of biography and social history including The Good Steward: The Ernest C. Manning Story (2008), How the West Was Written: The Life and Times of James H. Gray (2006), Romancing the Rockies: Mountaineers, Missionaries, Marilyn & More (2005) and Scoundrels and Scallywags (2002). He was the first recipient of Canada’s Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award and has written freelance articles and columns for magazines and newspapers across the United States and Canada, including the New York Times, Globe and Mail and Toronto Star. Brian also serves on the National Council of The Writers’ Union of Canada.

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