Its title refers to the Lord's Prayer (or "Our Father"): The story is set in the university town of Baile an Chaisil, a thinly disguised city of Galway, in 1949, the year Ireland declared itself a republic and withdrew from the Commonwealth of Nations.

Máirtín Ó Mealóid, a pub-crawling university student, and his disreputable friends are too busy drinking and lusting after girls to pay much attention to this significant political development.

The novel was written and published in Irish, then translated into English and German and was adapted for the stage in 2004.

[1] An extract from the book was formerly on the curriculum of Honours Level Irish in the Leaving Certificate secondary school examination.

[2] The book was launched at Kennys, and the event aired live for an hour and a half on RTÉ Radio 1.