CD: Rebels of Ireland

Edward Rutherfurd's stirring account of Irish history, the Dublin Saga, concludes in this magisterial work of historical fiction. Beginning where the first volume, The Princes of Ireland, left off, The Rebels of Ireland takes us into a world transformed by the English practice of "plantation," which represented the final step in the centuries-long British conquest of Ireland. Once again Rutherfurd takes us inside the process of history by tracing the lives of several Dublin families from all strata of society - Protestant and Catholic, rich and poor, conniving and heroic. From the time of the plantations and Elizabeth's ascendancy Rutherfurd moves into the grand moments of Irish history: the early-17th-century "Flight of the Earls," when the last of the Irish aristocracy fled the island; Oliver Cromwell's brutal oppression and confiscation of lands a half-century later; the romantic, doomed effort of "The Wild Geese" to throw off Protestant oppression at the Battle of the Boyne. The reader sees through the eyes of the victims and the perpetrators alike the painful realities of the anti-Catholic penal laws, the catastrophic famine and the massive migration to North America, the rise of the great nationalists O'Connell and the tragic Parnell, the glorious Irish cultural renaissance of Joyce and Yeats, and finally, the triumphant founding of the Irish Republic in 1922. Written with all the drama and sweep that has made Rutherfurd the bestselling historical novelist of his generation, The Rebels of Ireland is both a necessary companion to The Princes of Ireland and a magnificent achievement in its own right. "From the Hardcover edition."

Review :
INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER "This sweeping sequel to "The Princes of Ireland "displays the same successful Rutherfurd formula of fictionalized history that has served him and his readers so well before. . . . A swiftly moving narrative that deftly blends historical facts with a novelist's imagination." --"The Calgary Herald" Praise for The Princes of Ireland: "A sweeping, carefully constructed portrait of a nation." -"The New York Times" "The Michener of our time." -"Toronto Star" "Spellbinding. . . . Like James Michener and Leon Uris, Rutherfurd does a magnificent job of packaging a crackling good yarn within a digestible overview of complex historical circumstances and events." -"Booklist" "From the Hardcover edition." INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER Praise for The Princes of Ireland: "A sweeping, carefully constructed portrait of a nation." -"The New York Times" "The Michener of our time." -"Toronto Star" "Spellbinding. . . . Like James Michener and Leon Uris, Rutherfurd does a magnificent job of packaging a crackling good yarn within a digestible overview of complex historical circumstances and events." -"Booklist" "From the Hardcover edition." Praise for The Princes of Ireland: "A sweeping, carefully constructed portrait of a nation." -"The New York Times" "The Michener of our time." -"Toronto Star" "Spellbinding. . . . Like James Michener and Leon Uris, Rutherfurd does a magnificent job of packaging a crackling good yarn within a digestible overview of complex historical circumstances and events." -"Booklist" "From the Hardcover edition."