Review: Fascinating and Deeply Moving
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 21, 2012
Catherine O'Connell-Gort, the only surviving child of Sir Jonathan O'Connell-Gort had always been wild and reckless. When other girls of her age and class were 'coming out' as débutantes, she insisted on going to university to study medicine. And it was there that she met Sean Brennan - handsome, charming... and an active member of the nascent Irish Republican Army.Catherine's father is desperately taking a stand for the old regime against the I R A murderers and rebels who are killing policemen in the street. And his task is made next to impossible because all the Irish institutions - the police force, the civil service, even the post office - have been infiltrated by Sinn Féin spies,  and the Irish people look the other way. Nobody ever sees who carries out the murders and the British can do nothing without the I R A knowing their plans. The members of Sinn Féin, however, are not hampered by rules of gentlemanly behaviour. They are in no doubt that they are fighting a war, waged for the independence of their beloved Ireland, and if innocent people are killed in the process, that is the sacrifice that must be paid.There are many reasons why you might want to read this book, not the least of which is that it describes more vividly and emotively the early days of the I R A than any text book could.As always in these circumstances it is the little people who get hurt, the policemen with families to support and a pension to worry about, the idealistic young men like Sean Brennan who are recruited by Sinn Féin and turned into killers.But there are other reasons. This is one of the most poignant love stories I have ever read. I was moved to tears more than once and kept hoping against hope that somehow Catherine and Sean's fragile, doomed love would survive the bloody battlefield that was Ireland in 1919.And finally, you might choose to read it for the same reason I did. Because you have read Tim Vicary before and recognised him for the superb writer he is. Make no doubt about it, Tim Vicary is a master of his craft. His prose is fluent and beautiful, his characterisation superb, his plots perfectly structured and paced.When I read the first book I became a fan. With this one I have become an addict.