One of the most intriguing friendships in Irish history has been transformed into fiction — the bond between Lord Edward Fitzgerald, aristocrat turned revolutionary, and Tony Small, a runaway slave who saved his life. Film-maker Neil Jordan is also an award-winning novelist, and this panoramic, painstakingly researched novel — told through Small’s voice — is a convincing reconstruction of the way their lives interlocked despite origins in diametrically opposed worlds. One man sprang from Ireland’s most patrician family, the other was born into slavery on an American plantation. They met in 1781 during the American War of Independence, when Small dragged Lord Edward, wounded and unconscious, from a battlefield — the young lieutenant was fighting on behalf of the British crown.