Much more than a simple biography of an Irish rebel - placed in context of family, society, history and also deeply personal. Born into a middle class shopkeeper family in Killarney, his father enabled him to pursue the academic training that he had had truncated when he was pulled out of Trinity College to help run the family business.

Young Robert was sent to school in Cork during the uprising and start of the rebellion and then on to Trinity during the civil war. He emerged as a radical, trained as a CoI priest, was posted to a poor living in Belfast encountering urban working class poverty and conflicted by the failure of the churches, both his protestant and the catholic, to deal with the conditions of their flocks. He had married and had 2 children, then 2 more in very difficult circumstances as his relationship with his wife deteriorated. He fled to London and got involved in radical politics and joined the CP in struggle against the rise of fascism and in due course volunteered to join the British brigade in the Spanish Civil War. Died in a pivotal battle.

Book researched and written by his granddaughter Linnet who as a biographer is not adverse to letting her own voice be heard and to flag clearly when she is making assumptions based on scant evidence but logical connection.