Weeks after his father, Terence, is jailed in Maze Prison, Tim Connolly arrives in New York to stay with relatives. Bridget, his mother, believes her seventeen-year-old son will be safer with an ocean between him and the Troubles. Tim is not safe, however. Resented by his American uncle and bullied and beaten at school, he becomes sullen, withdrawn, and desperately homesick. But when a gym class exercise on the school track reveals his remarkable speed, the track coach recruits Tim for the team. Running becomes Tim’s obsession. With every success he gains confidence and courage. Tim’s success, however, infuriates his enemies, whose plots against him grow increasingly violent. Meanwhile his father’s hunger strike, and his mother’s controversial women’s anti-H-Block crusade, weigh heavily on Tim. As he trains for the 1983 National AAU 800-Meter Championship, Tim is unprepared for the series of shocking events that will occur on race day.

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