Judy Roy thought she knew her grandfather, Patrick "Paddy" Nicholson. She knew that he and her grandmother had come to Massachusetts from Nova Scotia. They lived in a three-decker house with their eight children behind the church where Paddy worked as the parish custodian. She remembered her grandfather as a humble, prayerful man, devout in his Catholic faith and beloved by everyone who knew him. Then, forty years after his death, Judy discovered information that cast her grandfather's life in an entirely new light.
Against all odds, Paddy had become a writer. As a young man, he wrote passionately about the struggles of Cape Breton coal miners, using the pen name, A Man in Overalls. Later, inspired by the oral traditions of his ancestors from the Isle of Barra, Paddy wrote folk tales set in the "Backlands" of Cape Breton Island. His beautiful stories and poems reflect his love for the Scottish Gaels who went before him and for the land of his youth. Both were lost to him but never forgotten. This book ensures that the life of Patrick and the works of this Man in Overalls will remain alive for future generations.
