The Kidds of Summerhill

In the spring of 1945 a mother dies, leaving four children to fend for themselves in a Dublin tenement. Nancy, the oldest, lives in dread of the family being split up. The power to send them all to industrial schools such as Artane and Goldenbridge lies with the ‘Cruelty Men’. Their spy, the Pig Farmer, lives next door and holds a long term grudge against the family. Thankfully Nancy has loyal friends in Summerhill and the Diamond, among them Lilly, her brother Charlie Weaver, a Dublin newsboy, and their ma, Maggie. Through work, Nancy becomes friendly with Karla, a Jewish refugee from Prague. When Nancy takes action to help a friend out of trouble little does she know she is heading straight for it herself. Faced with an agonising choice, she is forced to ask herself: How far am I prepared to go to keep my family together?