A shot of a crossroads in Allihies village, west Cork, made it to the cover of a book sold in the thousands of copies, and summarised perhaps the poorer, wetter, less-outward looking Ireland of the 1970s.

AUTHOR Leon Uris, an immigrant’s determined son who made it big with the best-selling Exodus and other hugely popular novels, has died, his ex-wife said yesterday. He was 78.

Author Leon Uris, an immigrant’s determined son who made it big with the million-selling novel Exodus, has died, his ex-wife said today. He was 78.