Born in Ireland, Cormac Sleanagh, an illiterate farm-boy, rejects his inheritance and leaves the farm. Arriving in Girvan, Scotland in 1889, he falls in love with, and is seduced by the experienced Maisie. He flees the potential consequences and, unknown to him, Maisie has a daughter.

He settles in Seabank, where he marries Beth and raises a family. His vision, charisma and rejection of interdenominational conflicts results in him becoming the involuntary leader of the local Irish-Catholic community.

Beth pushes him to better himself. The family prospers, with members seeing active service in both wars, two graduating from university and one becoming the Provost of Kerlaw.

Cormac’s objective is to be accepted by his adoptive country. Along the way, he has to overcome not only the resistance of the Scottish Presbyterian Establishment and the bigotry of the Orange Order, but also the conservative machinations of his own Faith, the Catholic Church.

Life is complicated by the return of Maisie into his life. He meets her again when their daughter is twelve. Within a few months, Maisie is jailed for prostitution and the child dies of diphtheria. Cormac helps her return to society. Maisie prospers and they form a relationship resulting in a son and daughter. Beth knows nothing of this.

An acquaintance discovers Cormac’s other family and blackmails him. Second son John intervenes and the blackmailer drowns in suspicious circumstances. Shortly thereafter, Beth discovers it for herself, visits Maisie, and they decide to let things remain as they are. Cormac never knows.

Cormac dies in 1952 and his burial service is an ecumenical one. Is he a turncoat, rejecting his heritage and taking the British shilling? Or is he a perceptive pioneer, who accepts the historical inevitability of being assimilated into Scottish culture and society? What comes first, integration or emancipation?

The story of an immigrant, Irish-Catholic family which not only survives, but succeeds, in a foreign culture.

Two more projects are in hand. One is a sequel, where the family history is brought up to the present day. The grocer’s shop opened by Cormac’s son John grows into a national chain of supermarkets with all the trouble, strife and intrigue which wealth brings with it. The other is a parallel to ‘The Aul’ man,’ where, at the end of the second chapter, Cormac does not run away, but remains in Girvan, marries Maisie, rejects Catholicism and becomes Protestant.

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