Buataisí Dearga (Red Boots)is a chronicle of the struggles and lives of ordinary people. Set mainly in Derry and Donegal, the book also takes the reader to Scotland, France, Italy and the USA in a series of overlapping stories spanning one hundred years between 1892 and 1992

Mac Cormaic's book depicts poverty, migration, near-slavery, war, love and betrayal against a background of a city growing, migration in and out of Derry and two world wars. The old streets, shops, factories and city of Derry, sometimes re-imagined by Mac Cormaic, as well as the customs of yesteryear, are centre stage.

"This is not a gentle, rose-tinted history but a chronicle of the hardships and realism of the life of the ordinary person, of the day-to-day struggle in a community over the past century,” according to the publisher Coiscéim. The book it is generously illustrated with sketches and drawings of Derry landmarks. "From the folklore of the home, the yarns of the neighbours, and a retelling of local history, the author has woven a story that is not easy to put down.” 

‘Gino’ Mac Cormaic was born in Derry. He served 15 years in the H-Blocks and was on the blanket protest for five years and in prison during the 1981 hunger strike when ten republican prisoners died.

He has published several books of poetry and non-fiction about his time as a republican prisoner.

Last year’s Captive Columns: An Underground Prison Press 1865-2000 examined the entire history of republican jail literature over a period of almost 150 years while his book Gaeil agus Géibheann looked at the Irish language in the prisons during the same period.