The Backslider

The setting is Belfast in the 1970s. Marius Moonston, age thirteen, is out and the streets are filled with danger and excitement—especially for Marius, whose pocket is burning with the money he has pilfered from his sister. Ricocheting through the story is the nature of deceit and truth, commerce, disobedience, and sin. Sean McGrady brings his own history and philosophy into this page turner.

Sean McGrady was raised in Belfast, immersed in the religious and political ideas that defined the Irish Troubles. A former university lecturer in philosophy, he lives in York, England.