At almost fifteen years of age, Albert John Wheeler has for the whole of his short life resided in the bosom of his loving, middle-class family in the county of Yorkshire. But his secure and sheltered existence is about to be shattered.Albert's story is that of a boy's journey into manhood, a tale of family upheaval and heartache, of a young man's journey through a web of guilt, deceit, betrayal, murder and revenge, all mixed in with the Irish troubles, the British secret service and the Great War.Along the way, he discovers true love (as well as how to hate), a love which causes as much grief as it does pleasure, a love which shackles him with guilt as much as it frees him from the pain of his past, a love which leaves friends, as well as enemies, dead in its wake.