Born in 1128, much of St Laurence O"Toole"s youth was spent as a hostage of King Dermot McMurrough, the man who brought the Normans to Ireland. Upon his release, he became Abbot of Glendalough and then Archbishop of Dublin. He played a central role during the Norman invasion. As archbishop, he was the man in the middle, a churchman reluctantly involved in affairs of state, a mediator trusted and called on by all sides, a peacemaker whose work led to his exile and lonely death far from his beloved land. This account draws on a variety of unpublished sources to provide a dramatic and gripping biography.