The Battle of the Boyne. It’s one of those events in Irish and British history that’s loaded with significance (think Orange marches and gable-ends) even though not many people know much about what actually happened. As Angus Donald confesses he discovered when writing the third of his Holcroft Blood novels. We’ve all see them on […]
Full of Grace by Orla McAlinden
Returning to the beloved characters who populate Orla McAlinden’s award-winning debut The Accidental Wife, and introducing many new ones, Full of Grace probes deep into stories of love, betrayal, survival and belonging in a changing land
Review: Death and Nightingales
Locals will tell you that for six months of the year the lakes are in Fermanagh, and for the other six, Fermanagh is in the lakes. Rain sweeps in quickly in this small corner of Ulster. Waters rise and landscapes change. Frontiers are always on the move and borders once thought traversable can suddenly become […]
The Normans: Conquest Through Adaptation
Ruadh Butler explains how Norman military prowess relied on adopting and adapting ideas from conquered cultures. Thanks to a 12th century ancestor I find myself an Irishman bearing an English version of a Norman word for a Frankish court position as a surname. While identity in Ireland always makes an interesting subject, the background to the […]
On the Trail of the Vikings
On a recent visit to County Wicklow, Ireland, I checked into a B&B just a few miles from where the History Channel’s Vikings series is filming at Lough Tay. I was hoping that I might catch a glimpse of Ragnar and Co. Or better yet, I might have a jolly sit-down with series creator/writer Michael […]
Ireland’s Revolutionary Sisterhood
On the 2nd April 2014, over 100 women gathered in Wynn’s Hotel Dublin at a gathering presided over by Agnes O’Farrelly, Professor of Irish Language at University College Dublin and Ireland’s first female Irish-language novelist. Their purpose was to discuss the role of women in the lead up to revolution and on into the fight […]