Roddy Doyle is the author of five previous novels, three of which --The Commitments, The Snapper, and The Van--were made into movies. The Van was nominated for the Booker Prize in 1991. Two years later Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha (Penguin) won the Booker Prize and was a New York Times bestseller. His most recent novel, The Woman Who Walked Into Doors (Penguin) was a national bestseller. Also a screenwriter, Roddy Doyle lives in Dublin.

Born in the Dublin slums of 1901, his father a one-legged whorehouse bouncer and settler of scores, Henry Smart has to grow up fast. By the time he can walk he's out robbing and begging, often cold and always hungry, but a prince of the streets. By Easter Monday, 1916, he's fourteen years old and already six-foot-two, a soldier in the Irish Citizen Army. A year later he's ready to die for Ireland again, a rebel, a Fenian and a killer. With his father's wooden leg as his weapon, Henry becomes a Republican legend - one of Michael Collins' boys, a cop killer, an assassin on a stolen bike.