The good times never happen, and in the 20s they seemed farther away than ever; life was a treadmill of smoke, grit and dreary labour.

          But Jack Ford knew that his boat would come in. He had survived the Great War only to find the fight for survived as fierce in the northern shipyards as it was in the trenches. Jack didn’t talk about survival – he acted, even when it meant hurting people. Like the girl who loved him… or his best friend, whose sister Jack took to bed.

          Jack Ford’s boat was coming in, but it would be carrying casualties.