This miracle of autobiography and prison literature begins: "Friday, in the evening, the landlady shouted up the stairs: 'Oh God, oh Jesus, oh Sacred Heart, Boy, there's two gentlemen here to see you.' I knew by the screeches of her that the gentlemen were not calling to inquire after my health . . . I grabbed my suitcase, containing Pot. Chlor., Sulph Ac, gelignite, detonators, electrical and ignition, and the rest of my Sinn Fein conjurer's outfit, and carried it to the window . . ." The men were, of course, the police, and seventeen-year-old Behan. He spent three years as a prisoner in England, primarily in Borstal (reform school), and was then expelled to his homeland, a changed but hardly defeated rebel. Once banned in the Irish Republic, Borstal Boy is both a riveting self-portrait and a clear look into the problems, passions, and heartbreak of Ireland.

Chronicles the adventures of the King of Ireland's eldest and wildest son, describing how he encounters an enchanter's daughter, the king of the cats, Gilly of the goat-skin, and numerous others.

Sent to find the source of the heavenly music heard throughout the kingdom, the youngest son of the King of Ireland finds a beautiful maiden held captive by a fierce giant.

Looks beyond the author's all-too-well-known personality and focuses on what ultimately matters - the writing. Focuses on Behan's rich and eclectic body of creative works, his poetry and plays in Irish and English, his short stories and his extraordinary autobiographical novel, Borstal Boy