P. J. Kavanagh (1931–2015)

Young Francis Place, living in a cottage with his mother supported as poor relations to a Gloucester Lord, one night stumbles upon a vicious hanging. He rescues the intended victim and soon finds himself caught in a tangled tale of justice and revenge that goes back to the harsh supression of Catholic insurrection in Ireland. Despite the man's roguish nature, Francis finds himself in fascinated sympathy with Scarf Jack, and takes against the would-be murderers, who happen to be guests at his show more Lord's manor, and decides to help him in his scheme to take revenge.

Apparently an unusual British book inasmuch as it attempted to take a sympathetic view of the Irish Catholics, though Lynch is careful to distinguish between the atrocity-loving irregular militia and the regular British Army who would generally prefer to avoid that sort of thing, a divide he undercuts through Jack's own ruminations on the costs of a soldiering life. Still, it's a grand, thrlling, adventure, extremely well-written, and Francis wrestling with the thrill of it all versus the rather grim and terrifiying conseuqences, makes for a thoughtful and sensitive hero. show less

According to the author's Foreword, this book is about `the facts of love and death'. Both are regarding his late wife, Sally Lehmann; but she does not appear in the book until page 114, and there are only two pages in the book following her death.

Open, honest, and unsentimental. The book itself is constructed well. Usually don't care much but this one, independent of the content, is "built well." The cover image is silly.