A winner of the 2013 Irish Writers’ Centre Novel Fair
A compelling, dramatic exploration of love, loss, resilience and divided loyalties, which explores the effects that war and political upheaval have on an ordinary family. Ellen leaves Ireland with her soldier husband, James, for a glamorous life in India but their idyll is shattered by a tragedy on the journey. They return to a frugal life in Dublin, a city rife with civil and political unrest. WW1 leaves her fending for herself and three children through the turbulence of the 1916 Easter Rising.
A traumatized James returns from the war to a hostile city, children who are nationalists and a wife who has become a strong, independent woman.
Caught between two loyalties, can Ellen hold her family together and make a place for them in the new Free State?
turbulence of the 1916 Easter Rising.

A traumatised James returns from the war to a hostile city, children who are nationalists and a wife who has become a strong, independent woman.
Caught between two loyalties, can Ellen hold her family together and make a place for them in the new Free State?