Bird of Passage

1960s Scotland. When Finn O’Malley is sent from Ireland to work at the potato harvest, he forms a close friendship with Kirsty Galbreath, the farmer’s red-headed grand-daughter. But Finn is damaged by a childhood so traumatic that he can only recover his memories slowly. What happened at the brutal Industrial School to which he was committed while still a little boy? For the sake of his sanity, Finn must try to find out why he was taken into care and what became of the mother he lost.

Time passes and Kirsty moves away. Only her ambitions as an artist can give her the fulfilment she seeks and the threads that have bound these two friends so closely together begin to unravel. But her work is tied up with her love for her magical island home and for Finn, who comes and goes like the corncrake, a summer visitor.

Many years later, India, a successful folk musician, tries to unravel the mysterious and tragic love story which has coloured her whole life.

She may find more than she bargained for.

Dealing sensitively with the appalling realities of state-sanctioned physical abuse and its aftermath, Bird of Passage is a powerful story of cruelty, loss and enduring love against all the odds.