Irish War

A book that examines war fiction as told in books and films. My own works are mentioned as well as powerful writers working within that field and a look at the history of such writing.

Even Ursula is shocked when she discovers the secret of her Irish stew. But just what is that secret...? At the height of the Cold War, St. Patrick’s Day is swiftly approaching the US Naval air base perched on the lava fields of Iceland. Derry woman Ursula has never given her stew recipe much thought, but when she and her best mate Reenie are roped into serving it to the troops, she has no idea of the uproar it will cause...to her marriage, her family, her friendship with Reenie, and maybe even to national security. Two spirited women fight off adversary from all angles in this darkly ...

The spectre of ‘the Disappeared’, those abducted, secretly executed and their bodies buried in remote locations, has overshadowed the debate around the legacy of the Troubles in Northern Ireland for the last two decades. Yet what most people don’t realise is that ‘forced disappearances’ have been part of violent political conflicts in Ireland for over 200 years. This groundbreaking book, the first of its kind, looks at the history of this practice in Ireland and identifies all known victims over the last century, from the North King Street Massacre in 1916 right up to 2003. Ó ...

Spiritual Wounds challenges the widespread belief that the contentious events of the Irish Civil War (1922–23) were covered in a total blanket of silence. The book uncovers an archive of published testimonies by pro- and antitreaty men and women, written in both English and Irish. Most of the testimonies discussed were produced in the 1920s and 1930s, and nearly all have been overlooked in historical study to date. Revolutionaries went to great lengths to testify to the ‘spiritual wounds’ of civil war: they adopted fictionalised disguises, located their writings in other places or ...

Ireland’s Secret War reveals strategic Nazi intentions for Ireland and the real role of leading government figures of the time, placing Dan Bryan and G2—the military intelligence branch of the Irish Defence Forces—at the centre of the country’s battle against Nazi Germany. With the help of over 35 hours of previously unpublished audio recordings that were held in storage in Northern California for over 50 years, Marc Mc Menamin reveals the extraordinary unheard history of WWII in Ireland, told from the point of view of the main protagonists.

The start of the Irish Civil War was signalled by the artillery bombardment of the Four Courts in Dublin on 28 June 1922. A week later, the Four Courts was gutted and O’Connell Street a smouldering ruin, but the anti- Treaty IRA was driven from the city. Most accounts of the fighting in Dublin end there. 'The Civil War in Dublin' reveals the complete, shocking story of Ireland’s capital during the ten-month guerrilla war that followed – a ruthless and bitter cycle of execution, outrage and revenge. The strategy of the anti-Treaty forces, often ignored or dismissed in previous ...

A novel of love and war, of legacy and fate, of parallel and colliding worlds. Nora McMahon is a young Irish girl raised by her grandfather on a County Clare tenant farm on the eve of the Great War. Her parents were executed following a failed local rebellion and she inherits their penchant for adventure and their dreams of a free Ireland. She is a witness to the radical political change overtaking Ireland and struggles to find her way and prove her worth in the nascent Irish republican world. Edward Eldridge is a wealthy young captain in the British Army eager to debate the erupting war in...

Moyamensing’s Edge is the story of two men separated by time, united by blood, fight different battles. On the gritty streets of late 1880s Philadelphia, Lawrence struggles to balance his moral compass with a desire to rise above his working-class status. Few know the intricacies of the dark Moyamensing neighborhood alleys as well as Lawrence, and his family fears that he is too familiar with some of the darker paths within the community. Thirty years later, the stirrings of World War I and the lure of adventure calls to another young man, Aloysius. A life of stability is outshone by ...

The year is 1917 and the United States has just declared war on Germany. What is called “The Great War” has been raging for quite a while, but seems to have ground to a stalemate between France, Great Britain and Germany. But now, with the USA joining the fight, the Allies are confident that what they call ‘The Hun” will be defeated once the American “doughboys” arrive in France. Bucky Riley, a Burlington, Vermont, native, is eager to be part of the action—a big reason being that his father, a Rough Rider hero of the Spanish-American War back in 1898, believes Bucky is a “...

"Fudge" is the kindest nickname given to a half-Black child born smack in the middle of a family of eight children who were not only White, they were Irish. This memoir shares experiences of one of more than 1,000 mixed-race children, many of whom grew up conflicted about their racial identity and feeling abandoned by their Black American military fathers stationed throughout Great Britain during World War II.

General Liam Lynch was a key figure in the Irish Revolution and remains one of the most celebrated IRA leaders of his era. His republicanism was shaped both by his upbringing in Limerick and by the aftermath of the Easter Rising. By the time of the War of Independence, Lynch was in command of the IRA’s Cork No. 2 Brigade and masterminded some of the most important actions against British forces, such as the Fermoy arms raid and the daring kidnapping of British General Cuthbert Lucas. Adamantly opposed to the Anglo-Irish Treaty, regarding it a betrayal of the Irish Republic, Lynch became ...

When the past comes calling....run To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven... It's 1959, Detective Nick Jellicoe is posted from the London Met to a quiet seaside town following the loss of his wife. Within a week of his arrival, Colonel Masterson, a local magistrate, is murdered, and his grandson is kidnapped. Rather than demand a ransom, the kidnapper begins to send cryptic messages that suggest his real motive is something else: revenge. Meanwhile a war is brewing between the two main criminal gangs in the town. Jellicoe's trip to the seaside is ...

A childhood holiday inspires an exploration into the family history of a ten year old Irish girl. Tales of peculiar neighbours; exploring a deserted cottage; visiting Grandad at work on the Donegal turf moors; ghost stories; turn of the century life in the Inishowen homestead; grasping family members; inoculation; emigrating on the 'Cattle Boat' to 'no dogs, no Irish, no children; lodgings in England; the Irish workmen in England; living in a Halfway house; 1950s convalescence; a convent education and performing in a bagpipe band.

After 20 years away, Jo Devereux flies home to Ireland for her mother’s funeral—the mother she hasn’t spoken to for more than two decades. Every minute there reminds her of all the reasons she left, and she has no desire to reacquaint herself with her home village. Or with Rory O’Donovan, her lost love. Then she reads her mother’s will. Her inheritance is a chest full of letters and journals, written by her grandmother and great-aunt, that answer a long-held secret. Who murdered her great-uncle in the Irish Civil War...and why?

Sinn Féin is the most popular political party in both Northern Ireland and the Republic. A movement once synonymous with a paramilitary campaign is on the brink of taking real power through purely democratic means. But if Sinn Féin has mastered the art of electoral politics, it remains strangely opaque. Who really runs the party? How is it funded? And what can we expect of it as a party of government? Aoife Moore, Irish Journalist of the Year in 2021, explores these and other burning questions in The Long Game.

1943: Europe is at war - but neutral Ireland is isolated from the storm. In a sleepy coastal village south of Dublin, eighteen-year-old Aileen Sweeney meets soldier Niall O’Rourke at a dance, and the spark between them soon ignites a powerful love. But when Niall makes a life-changing and contentious decision, Aileen’s hopes and dreams fall apart. In an instant Niall is transformed from dashing suitor to social outcast, and the fallout leaves each of them navigating the consequences alone. Putting her innocence behind her, Aileen must make her own tough choices.

A daring captain. A ship full of weapons. And a sinister plot that could cripple Britain. In the heart of world war one, a devious plan devised by the German navy led to Naval Officer Captain Karl Spindler embarking on a perilous and secret mission. His task - to deliver German weaponry to Ireland and spark what would become the Easter Uprising. Departing from Norway with a disguised ship, Spindler undertook a perilous mission with a small crew and a hold full of explosives.

The Battle of Arnhem was a major World War II battle at the vanguard of the Allied Operation Market Garden, the dramatic but unsuccessful campaign fought by the British Army in the Netherlands from 17 to 25 September 1944. This was the first-time airborne troops were used by the Allies on such a scale, and the objective was a series of nine bridges that might have provided an Allied invasion route into Germany. Airborne and Land Forces successfully liberated Eindhoven and Nijmegen but were thwarted by the Nazis at the Battle of Arnhem, in their efforts to secure the last bridge over the ...

As the Great War enters its most deadly phase, Patrick, Jenny, and Danny Carmody must cast aside their personal desires in order to stand with Britain against Germany and her allies. Danny, who is recovering from serious wounds, is devastated when he learns he must return to the Continent to fight at the front. Patrick prays for a shore posting, but the Royal Navy has something much more insidious in store for him. Jenny and Kevin rekindle their love for one another, but their relationship is tested when the Irish people demand their independence.

Here at last is the true story of the merchant fleet during World War II, the non-fighting service in which 32,000 men died yet whose essential role has never been fully appreciated. The author, himself a member of the service from 1941-47, relates the stories of merchantmen and their crews with unique insight. From the early days of the war to the day of victory on the Rhine, through combined operations in the Mediterranean and at Normandy, the complete operation of the fleet is examined, with vivid accounts of the horrific losses undergone, the heroism of the crews and the sacrifices ...