Turbulent Priests

Is she the new Messiah, or just a very naughty girl? Dan Starkey arrives on Wrathlin Island - meteorogically wet but alcoholically dry - to investigate the residents' belief that the Messiah is alive, female, and about to start school there: it's not a commission that turns up every day. With wife Patricia and her baby Little Stevie, he finds himself caught up in a mess of religious intolerance, blokes with shooters and illicit drinking in a tiny community that is big on religious fervour but small on hospitality. Apart from the Messiah's mum of course, who's clung to her sanity. And her lager.

Bateman was a journalist in Northern Ireland before becoming a full-time writer. His first novel, DIVORCING JACK, won the Betty Trask Prize, and all his novels have been critically acclaimed. He wrote the screenplays for the feature films DIVORCING JACK, CROSSMAHEART and WILD ABOUT HARRY. He lives in Ireland with his family.