I thoroughly enjoyed this historic-fiction novel by Tim Vicary, my first experience of this author. Set in a politically divided Ireland in the early nineteen hundreds and backdropped by the First World War, it stages politics, class, and romance and demonstrates how the three just don’t mix.

Catherine is a single-minded, obstinate, and determined young girl, the daughter of a wealthy colonel. Sean is a fanatical young man, dedicated to the IRA and its elusive leader, Michael Collins. Their attraction to each other is fated: they are separated by class, and Catherine has to balance her tenuous loyalty to her father with her love for Sean, who is being sought by the police for murder and hopefully to lead them to Michael Collins. Exasperated and under pressure to find both men, the British government is brought in, and Catherine’s colonel father enlists the stern and lonely Andrew Butler, a hero of the war, to find and assassinate Michael Collins. But the path to the success of this is hampered: how is that their fugitive is always one step ahead of his pursuer?

This was a compelling story. One occasionally forgot the era in which the story was set: there was a modernness about some of the characters that perhaps was a little incongruous, but actually, this was what I really liked. The author didn’t overpower and bog it down with excessive historic detail. In fact, his words were carefully chosen throughout to keep you focussed and glued to the plot. There was no redundancy of words, nor lack thereof. The book was tense, very well conceived, and gripping and kept you on edge to the end. I loved the contrast provided by Catherine and Sean, both committed to their own ambitions, separated by their backgrounds, but bound by their passion.

I very much liked this author’s style and his story-telling ability and will certainly look forward to reading more by him. I thoroughly recommend this. ( )

A well written book

Another fine book by Vicary. He knows how to set a scene and mixes his own imagination with historical events. ( )

Fascinating and Deeply Moving

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. ( )

Tim Vicary writes a very convincing book about Ireland in 1919 while Ireland is under British rule. Catherine, the main character is a woman who is part of the wealthy upper class, basically those benefited by British rule. She is in love with a man named Sean, in the Sinn Fein, a group of Irish nationalists determined to take control of Ireland back. The book is described by reviewers on Amazon as being about "star crossed lovers," and compared to Romeo and Juliet. Personally, I didn't think their "love story" was all that great, and I kept rooting for the other guy. Vicary however does write a book that speaks to current themes of terrorism and extremism, even though it was written about Ireland at the beginning of the 1900's. Overall, 4 stars. ( )