On the cover, the "a" in the word "starts" of the title, is replaced with a six-pointed geometric star figure.

"Ballycreggan, Northern Ireland, 1955. Erich Bannon is happy in the small Irish village he has thought of as home since he arrived as a terrified, traumatised seven year old, one of the last Jewish children to escape Berlin in 1939. Now at twenty-three, it feels like all of his friends are drawn to The Promised Land, and he can understand why, but Israel is not for him. One by one, they leave, and Erich is bereft. He wonders if he should just go too, but a chance encounter with an Irish Catholic girl gives him hope for a brighter future. All he and Róisín want is to be allowed to love each other but the traditions and rules of their backgrounds forbid it. By the time he learns that Róisín wasn't honest with him about her family and what kind of people they really are, it is too late and he finds himself unwittingly embroiled in a dangerous world from which there seems to be no escape. When Róisín is spirited away, Erich wonders if their relationship was doomed from the start, and he finds himself in deep trouble. Reluctant to involve his family, he tries to solve his problems alone, but realises the forces at work are far more powerful than he is." -- Page [4] of cover.