The Sandstone City

Eighty-eight-year-old Michael Doherty lies in an open coffin, listening to those who have come to pay their respects. Despite his dead son Cormac’s protests, he’s not yet ready to pass over. His granddaughter is the reason. Twenty-something Sarah has inexplicably abandoned her plans to settle in Spain and returned home deeply scarred by the Sandstone City, and he needs to know why.

He is granted a special grace period of forty days. Forty days to discover and heal his granddaughter’s trauma. Forty days to face his own past. Forty days to find peace before he must make his final departure.

But Michael and Sarah are not alone. Ghosts populate the streets of Salamanca, and they have a message for Sarah.

Set between modern-day Belfast and the Spanish Civil War, The Sandstone City is a story about the decisions we make, the choices denied us, and how we navigate what’s left.