Barely 18-years-old, Willie Dunne leaves Dublin in 1914 to fight for the Allied cause, largely unaware of the growing political and religious tensions festering back home. Evoking the camaraderie and humour of Willie and his regiment, the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, this powerful novel underlines the cruelty and sadness of war and the divided loyalties that many Irish soldiers felt. Running throughout is the question of how such young men came to be

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Anne Gallagher grew up enchanted by her grandfather's stories of Ireland. Heartbroken at his death, she travels to his childhood home to spread his ashes. There, overcome with memories of the man she adored and consumed by a history she never knew, she is pulled into another time. The Ireland of 1921, teetering on the edge of war, is a dangerous place in which to awaken. But there Anne finds herself, hurt, disoriented, and under the care of Dr. Thomas...

During the Irish Revolution nearly three hundred country houses were burned to the ground. These "Big Houses" were powerful symbols of conquest, plantation, and colonial oppression, and were caught up in the struggle for independence and the conflict between the aristocracy and those demanding access to more land. Stripped of their most important artifacts, most of the houses were never rebuilt and ruins such as Summerhill stood like ghostly figures...

"Renowned Irish historian Diarmaid Ferriter presents a new look at the Irish revolutionary period from 1913-1923, drawing from newly available historical sources as well as the testimonies of the people who lived and fought through this extraordinary period. Packed with violence, political drama and social and cultural upheaval, the years 1913-1923 saw the emergence in Ireland of the Ulster Volunteer Force to resist Irish home rule and in response,...