A TRUE CRIME STORY, THAT REVEALS DEEPER TRUTHS ABOUT US, OUR PAST AND EVEN OUR PRESENT. On Christmas night in 1881, in the slums of Leeds, young John Manley - the son of poor Irish immigrants - was fatally stabbed in a drunken quarrel. His terrified killer, John Ross, fled, knowing that capture could mean the gallows. More than a century later, author Catherine Czerkawska sets out to uncover the truth about her great-great-uncle's tragic death and discovers that Ross is not the only 'proper person to be detained' in this story. Catherine is driven to keep digging, and what she finds goes far beyond that shocking act of violence. From rural Ireland to the industrial heartlands of England and Scotland, she traces the story of her family through a world of poverty and injustice, but also resilience. While confronting the past with empathy and anger, she gives voice to immigrants, the working poor, and vulnerable women and children, so often silenced by history.
