After The Rising [Kindle Edition]

There are so many reasons to recommend this book. It's an engrossing page-turner of a family saga, covering three generations. It's a poignant and unusual love story. The characters are complex, believable, sometimes heartbreaking. If like me you're woefully ignorant of Irish history, AFTER THE RISING will fill some gaps in your knowledge (though the novel pulls no punches showing the horrors of civil war and the destruction of families and communities.)

But mainly I recommend this novel for the quality of the writing: the musical cadences of the Irish dialogue; the author's ability to combine the horrific and the hilarious (as in the heartrending section about a convent education); the finely detailed observation of speech and gesture that lend the book an emotional authenticity that's both moving and memorable.

The scope of this book - historical, political and emotional - is hugely ambitious, but it's full of heart and hugely entertaining. The sequel (BEFORE THE FALL) is already downloaded onto my Kindle.

I enjoyed After The Rising immensely. From the opening pages I was drawn into the story and quickly became engrossed in it. Set in Ireland, in the present and also in the 1920s, it's a modern and an historical fiction rolled into one.

I easily slipped into the modern thread of the story as the main character, Jo, uncovered the secrets in her family history and grappled with her own past. But it was the historical thread that really grabbed me. The characters' conflicts brought home to me the emotional impact of the Irish Civil War. Friends and communities were pulled apart as they took sides in the political strife and I felt that turmoil through the characters' struggles.

The complexity of human relationships is at the heart of this story. I avidly followed the characters' journeys as they experienced love, grief, courage and pain. When the book ended I wanted to know what happened next to each of them, as if they were real people. Luckily for me there's a sequel due to be released soon - I'm looking forward to it!

The book opens as Jo Devereux arrives in a little village in Ireland for her mother's funeral. She hasn't been back for 20 years and the internal conflict Jo faces mark the start of this saga than spans generations. This is a beautifully written story that will draw you in and make you desperate for the sequel.

Why read this book?

* You want to know Jo's story as the setting flicks from her years growing up in Mucknamore, her doomed love for Rory and her escape from the claustrophobic Irish village. Jo's need for independence resonated with me and her anguish in the present timeframe makes for compelling reading.

* There are mysteries in the book, open loops in the lives of the players that fascinate and make you read on.

* I'm not Irish and my knowledge of Ireland's civil war is practically non-existent. This is, in part, a historical novel about a time in Ireland that few speak of so it was fascinating to read more about it from the perspectives of the characters involved. I also appreciated the effective use of language which is accessible to non-Irish readers but still gives a lovely cadence to the read. The dialogue is expertly done.

Recommended if you enjoy contemporary fiction with a historical thread.