On the Run is the story of an innocent farmer and his family caught in the middle of political and civil unrest and separated during the Troubles, the brutal conflict between the Irish Republican Army and the British government. Each separated family member has a different, riveting story, revealed powerfully in their separate struggles to unite and return to a peaceful country life in their village.
Terence Conolly, the husband, is jailed in Maze Prison’s H- Block as a terrorist. After months of beatings and torture, he joins the hunger strikers, but he abandons the strike to join the famous H-Block prison break.
Bridget, Terence’s wife, sends her teenage son to New York City to stay with her sister and brother-in-law to protect him from IRA men trying to recruit him. After a period of depression and despair, she joins a radical Women’s Movement Against the H-Block Abuses, only to be threatened by Loyalist paramilitary.
Tim, the son, is beaten and bullied in his new school, but he finds refuge and confidence as an elite runner, especially with the support of his coach and an unusual girlfriend.
Terence, Bridget, and Tim struggle in their separate ways to conquer their doubts and fears. The crucible of pain eventually gives them each the courage to confront their enemies and chart their way back to one another.
The novel’s ending, set during a national track championship, features a series of shocking events that resolve the separate plot lines.