aka The Bastard, the Bam, his Wife and her Lover

A Bam is a Scottish term for a simpleton, e.g. “Tam the Bam”. In this work the Bam has a particularly nasty and complex wife, think Lady Macbeth with a smile and a set of rosary beads.

The lover in this case is the parish curate, a junior priest. In Ireland there is a name for a child of such a liaison – Saggart. In the primary version of this work the term Saggart will probably not be used.

The Bastard is the most unsavoury character of this little family grouping, although he has some strong competition. This little runt has an overt Oedipus complex, but is it genuine or is it based on plain greed?
 
This tale, it is a tale isn’t it? involves skulduggery and theft by a solicitor, the altering of wills, and an unseemly rush to the deathbed of relatives that people had not spoken to for 50 years.