Publisher's Synopsis
Barnacles, real name Benjamin Brocklehurst, is an original, a beautiful-souled simpleton, 'one of God's innocents'. Causing some amusement, and some impatience, he slowly becomes part of Paisley, after escaping his tyrannical father. Barnacles meets Martha Normanshire, a young woman with a terrible story. She is a secret refugee from a horrifyingly abusive husband back in Glasgow. But then he loses his job and has to go away. Will he and Martha ever see each other again? What if Martha's husband finds her? Will fate smile on them, or will atrocity intervene?
