'All histories are really murder stories'

In 1854, one of the lean and terrible years following the Great Famine in Ireland, land agent Thomas French is appointed to bring order to the estate of Beatonboro', County Monaghan. French is a man with a considerable reputation and a steely determination, but Monaghan is caught in the grip of fear as well as poverty; disfigured by decades of violence and intimidation by the terrifying and legendary Ribbonmen.

When French starts to employ techniques that threaten the Ribbonmen's stranglehold, he provokes an escalation in violence that rips the community apart.

'The stage is set for a taut and explosive thriller... but what Gébler has done is, if anything, more impressive. He has taken a tale of violence and fear and mined it for its humanity' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH