Tales of the R.I.C.

In the rugged west of Ireland, Patsey Mulligan grows up on a tiny, rocky farm with a large family. Seeking a better life, he walks fifteen miles to the railway, heads to Yorkshire, and quickly finds work in a coal mine before the war pulls him into a Yorkshire regiment under an assumed name. After months in the trenches of Ypres, a promise to his dying mother brings him back home, where he hides his uniform and is marked as a deserter, trying to rebuild a life on the family farm.

Meanwhile, young subaltern Anthony Blake returns to Ireland after surviving the war, only to discover that his service under the British crown makes civilian employment almost impossible in a country stirring with nationalist sentiment. An unexpected offer from the newly formed Auxiliary Division of the Royal Irish Constabulary gives him a chance, and within months he rises to District Inspector in his hometown of Ballybor. As both men navigate the uneasy peace of post‑war Ireland, their paths hint at the complex loyalties and hidden dangers that lie ahead.