Michael's Publications
The Big Issue (UK): September: England Revisited
Café Lit (UK): October: The Barn
Authors Literary: November: No Sweat Marketing
Minds & Hearts: January: The Crossing
Ekphrasis Competition: February: Blue Reverie
Feature Articles Every Month: Mount Diablo Gazette
“After fleeing the harshness of life in Roscommon, Ireland, sixteen years old Joe Cronin (my grandfather) arrives penniless in Manchester. It is 1890. Determined to become a gentleman, as landlord of the Shamrock Inn, he builds a financial empire while helping the poor of Ancoats. His wife’s tragic death leaves him with two young daughters. Conscripted to serve England in WW I, he also continues to support home rule for Ireland by helping the IRA. After settling the gambling debts of the chief of police, he gains protection for his black-market schemes and illegal gambling. Accepted into the higher echelons of Manchester society, he earns the indebtedness of city leaders and politicians. But at the one moment when he should have shown the world what a real ‘gentleman’ he had become, he fails both himself and his favorite daughter Mary.”
The Baron of Bengal Street
The Bishop Wears No Drawers.
A former Catholic missionary priest remembers Africa
From the book cover and dust jacket:
In this spellbinding and riveting memoir, Barrington provides a brutally honest and gripping portrayal of his life as a young missionary priest. A racist, alcoholic pastor nurses him through his first bout of malaria fever. Stood up to be shot by a group of drunken soldiers, a whiskey drinking ‘John Wayne’ type priest shows him real caring. Devastated by the death of a twelve years old school girl he was mentoring, he then has to bury her. A Muslim friend offers him his youngest wife for the night if only he will stay in his house.
Set during a pivotal period in the history of the Catholic Church and bloody civil war in Nigeria, The Bishop Wears No Drawers is a true-to-life “survivor” tale replete with adrenaline pumping adventures, daunting challenges, and the added dimension of one priest’s profound religious struggles to find his true self.
Combined with warm humor, moving insights and personal testament, Barrington offers an unfettered glimpse into the rarely entered domain and closed doors of the highest level of church management. This is a book you will not be able to put down.