Reissued to coincide with the author's eightieth birthday, many of the stories in this collection will be familiar, not least to those who sat state examinations in Ireland in the 1980s. The majority are set in Plunkett's own city of Dublin, the stories reflecting the many facets of life in the capital, from the drudgery of office life, the poverty of so many of its citizens, the narrowness of rural life and the fight for freedom impinging on many lives.