The Temporary GentlemanThe Temporary Gentleman

Jack McNulty is a "temporary gentleman, " an Irishman whose commission in the British army in World War II was never permanent. Sitting in his lodgings in Accra, Ghana, in 1957, Jack urgently sets out to write his story. He feels he cannot take one step further, or even hardly a breath, without looking back at all that has befallen him. He is an ordinary man, both petty and heroic, but he has seen extraordinary things. He has worked and wandered around the world -- as a soldier, an engineer, a UN observer -- trying to follow his childhood ambition to better himself. But the memory weighing heaviest on his heart is that of beautiful Mai Kirwan, and their tempestuous, heartbreaking marriage.