Belfast, Ohio

Description

On a March weekend in Cleveland, two cataclysmic events reshape the life of Galahad (Gal) Lafferty, president of the St. John of Bath High School's Joseph of Arimathea Society, a service organization dedicated to serving as pall bearers for the homeless deceased of the heavily-Irish suburb of Lakewood, Ohio. Gal is drawn reluctantly into playing a vital role in secretly relocating the most sought after and the holiest of missing Catholic relics, The Holy Grail, after it is revealed to be hidden in a salt mine two thousand feet beneath Lake Erie. With a number of potential others possessing wicked designs for the sacred prize, Gal must outmaneuver his rivals to find and relocate the icon before they do. Complicating matters, the assumption of his guardianship takes place against the backdrop of a terrorist attack on Cleveland's massive St. Patty's Day parade that may or may not be linked to The Grail's reemergence. Belfast, Ohio, blends a bit of magic realism, Irish mysticism and history, Catholicism, and Arthurian romance to tell a thrilling story of sacrifice, heroism, and redemption.

Ty Roth is a composition and literature instructor on both the high school and college levels. He is the author of three previous novels: So Shelly (Penguin-Random House), Goodness Falls (First Edition), and Island No. 6 (First Edition).

Holy Grail, St. Patrick's Day, Cleveland, The Troubles, IRA, Terrorist Attack, Political Thriller, Northern Ireland, Strong female lead, Contemporary Arthurian Romance