The Battle of Kinsale in Ireland is the action-packed backdrop for Macdonogh's latest book. Macdonogh has traced his relations back to those who fought the English in 1601. While that battle only lasted four hours, it was pivotal to all Irish history that followed. The book encompasses much more than just the battle itself – it is a historical romance, loosely set in County Cork at the start of the 17th Century. It tells of the titanic struggle between Catholics and Protestants, Anglo-Saxons and Celts, innovation versus tradition, and town against country. Macdonogh' s heroes fight in battlefields, escape exile and suffer the plague before they find their way home. Stories within the overall novel – and there oare many, tells of a dozen adventures. One tells of a seven year-old boy whose family fled Ireland after the battle. He returns from France in his 20s and becomes mayor of the village where his house used to be. "Historical novels should do more, I feel, than just bring history to life," said Macdonogh. "They should allow the reader a detached view of his or her own time. Many of the niceties of today's society – so-called political correctness – need not apply when writing history. " "The reader can judge whether such modern conventions make us poorer or richer, wiser or simply more docile," he says.
The Last Irishmen (The House of Duhallow)
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Review
Like some literary Doctor Who, Jeremy Macdonogh whisked me back through time to Elizabethan Ireland. Under the spell of his prose I have sauntered through palaces, fought in battles, drunk at inns, been shocked in brothels and snoozed in hovels...
He fashions a romantic world peopled with villains, heroes, nobles, yeomen, ladies, tarts, monsters and saints.
If you want a read that brings history to life, this is it.
-- Nick Monson, author of Palace Diaries and Nouveaux Pauvres
The Battle of Kinsale in Ireland is the action-packed backdrop for Macdonogh's latest book. Macdonogh, researching his ancestry, has discovered that he descends from Irishmen who fought the English in 1601.
While that battle only lasted four hours, it was pivotal to all Irish history that follows.
The book encompasses much more than just the battle itself - it is a historical romance, loosely set in County Cork at the start of the 17th Century.
It tells of the struggle between Catholics and Protestants, Anglo-Saxons and Celts, innovation and tradition, and town and country.
Macdonogh's heroes fight in battlefields, endure exile and the plague before some of them can find their way home.
The book, however, is not a mere action thriller.
Stories within the overall novel - and there are many - tell of a dozen adventures. One tells of a seven year-old boy whose family fled Ireland after the battle. He returns from France in his 20s and becomes mayor of the village where his house used to be.
The terrible 'Flight of the Earls', an endless voyage by sea to Spain but deflected by storm to Normandy, is definitely not the cross-channel ferry.
Another story tells of a mixed marriage (Catholic and Protestant).
Yet another of an epic ride - 300 miles in five winter days.
The Spanish, in their huge men-o'-war and their exquisite clothes are particularly well drawn.
"Historical novels should do more than just bring history to life," said Macdonogh.
"They should allow the reader a detached view of his or her own time. Many of the assumptions of today's society, especially political correctness, cannot apply when writing history. The reader can judge whether our modernity has made us poorer or richer, wiser or simply more docile," he says. -- Diss Express, 20 Dec, 2008
He fashions a romantic world peopled with villains, heroes, nobles, yeomen, ladies, tarts, monsters and saints.
If you want a read that brings history to life, this is it.
-- Nick Monson, author of Palace Diaries and Nouveaux Pauvres
The Battle of Kinsale in Ireland is the action-packed backdrop for Macdonogh's latest book. Macdonogh, researching his ancestry, has discovered that he descends from Irishmen who fought the English in 1601.
While that battle only lasted four hours, it was pivotal to all Irish history that follows.
The book encompasses much more than just the battle itself - it is a historical romance, loosely set in County Cork at the start of the 17th Century.
It tells of the struggle between Catholics and Protestants, Anglo-Saxons and Celts, innovation and tradition, and town and country.
Macdonogh's heroes fight in battlefields, endure exile and the plague before some of them can find their way home.
The book, however, is not a mere action thriller.
Stories within the overall novel - and there are many - tell of a dozen adventures. One tells of a seven year-old boy whose family fled Ireland after the battle. He returns from France in his 20s and becomes mayor of the village where his house used to be.
The terrible 'Flight of the Earls', an endless voyage by sea to Spain but deflected by storm to Normandy, is definitely not the cross-channel ferry.
Another story tells of a mixed marriage (Catholic and Protestant).
Yet another of an epic ride - 300 miles in five winter days.
The Spanish, in their huge men-o'-war and their exquisite clothes are particularly well drawn.
"Historical novels should do more than just bring history to life," said Macdonogh.
"They should allow the reader a detached view of his or her own time. Many of the assumptions of today's society, especially political correctness, cannot apply when writing history. The reader can judge whether our modernity has made us poorer or richer, wiser or simply more docile," he says. -- Diss Express, 20 Dec, 2008
Review
Like some literary Doctor Who, Jeremy Macdonogh whisked me back through time to Elizabethan Ireland. Under the spell of his prose I have sauntered through palaces, fought in battles, drunk at inns, been shocked in brothels and snoozed in hovels...
He fashions a romantic world peopled with villains, heroes, nobles, yeomen, ladies, tarts, monsters and saints.
If you want a read that brings history to life, this is it.
He fashions a romantic world peopled with villains, heroes, nobles, yeomen, ladies, tarts, monsters and saints.
If you want a read that brings history to life, this is it.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition
A book should inform, educate or entertain, perhaps all three. This historical `faction' certainly informs and educates. Apart from the odd silly slip, such as suggesting that King James was the butt of Rochester's sally 'he never said a foolish thing and never did a wise one' (actually aimed at Charles II many years later), the author's scholarship seems soundly rooted in solid research. Macdonogh is our very own Blue Badge guide, his raised umbrella leading us through the twists and turns of early 17th century Irish history, bringing into the light a badly needed Irish perspective. History, they say, is written by the victors and the author does more than his bit to correct the imbalance.
Where I hesitate is over the element of entertainment. The beginning of the book is slow, awkward and amateurish and I had to screw my resolve to the sticking point to keep reading. Initially Macdonogh's plot is largely that of history, his characters are flat and, worse, he uses them primarily as vehicles for historical explanation. Real dialogue of the sort that sustains the beat of the narrative and renders the characters three-dimensional is sadly lacking.
But then from about a quarter of the way through the book the style suddenly matures, the characters become more real and the narrative and dialogue offer an altogether more enjoyable read. It would be immeasurably helpful to the new reader and I suspect to the author's royalties if he were to now re-write the first quarter of the book with the 'voice' of the last three.
Where I hesitate is over the element of entertainment. The beginning of the book is slow, awkward and amateurish and I had to screw my resolve to the sticking point to keep reading. Initially Macdonogh's plot is largely that of history, his characters are flat and, worse, he uses them primarily as vehicles for historical explanation. Real dialogue of the sort that sustains the beat of the narrative and renders the characters three-dimensional is sadly lacking.
But then from about a quarter of the way through the book the style suddenly matures, the characters become more real and the narrative and dialogue offer an altogether more enjoyable read. It would be immeasurably helpful to the new reader and I suspect to the author's royalties if he were to now re-write the first quarter of the book with the 'voice' of the last three.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
There are ufologists who think that UFOs are not from another galaxy but actually come from our own locality in the future. Reading JF Macdonogh's book brought this theory to mind, so easily clear and vivid are the pictures the author paints of our 17th century world. The first part of the book leading up to the Battle of Kinsale requires some concentration on the part of the reader, who is given a crash course in 17th century Irish history and customs. After the battle, whose sad outcome the reader has come silently to dread, it is as if a lock gate is opened. The reader is borne on an effortless flow into the fascinating world of Irish, English and Continental politics and life. As a reader one feels one is looking through the eyes of an invisible time-traveller who has totally free access to scenes, thoughts, words and deeds with a natural clarity of perception which gainsays any potential historical doubt.
And it is a riveting read to boot!
And it is a riveting read to boot!
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By Helen Kelsey
Format:Paperback
A self-confident, highly armed, arrogant modernist nation decides to suppress a strongly religious country, run to a degree by war-lords. Do you suspect that there may be an allegory buried in shallow soil in Macdonogh's exciting story about Elizabethan Ireland? The author does not claim to be writing 'a tale for our times', but his scrupulously and historically accurate novel describes with extraordinary clarity the tendency of all militarily superior powers through history to believe that they are morally superior to their enemies. Macdonogh's novel, telling the story of the beginning of the systematic subjugation of Ireland, is told from the Irish perspective. It reveals a brave, even heroic people, but ruled by chiefs too proud to submit to a centralising government, and therefore easy to divide and rule. This is not just a cracking read, it ought to be on the sixth form syllabus.
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