Description

‘I am a Rebel and proud to be one.’

The year is 1914. A World War distracts Britain as she fights to preserve her imperial status. Ireland, her oldest colony, is in two minds: to support the Empire in its hour of need or to seize the moment and make freedom happen now.

Four young brothers swear to end the gut-wrenching failures marking centuries of rebellion. Tommy Ruane rises through Connacht’s revolutionary forces and, after arrests and hunger strikes take him to Lincoln Jail, England, finds himself with Éamon de Valera, Terence MacSwiney and more of Ireland’s most dangerous men.

Michael Collins ramps up resistance while Tommy cherishes his return to Ireland. In Dublin, Mick McDonnell leads a killing squad targeting enemies of the Cause but around Tommy’s hometown in County Mayo, a mysterious chill factor squashes real rebel enterprise and puts Tommy at odds with long-time comrades.

Tommy faces choices. To form a guerrilla unit and honour the oaths he took? Or ruffle no feathers and turn blind eyes to the treachery around him? Loyalties and rivalries collide in this remarkable tale of rebel family life in what could be any town in the revolutionary era.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Medb Ruane is a psychoanalyst, critic and author. She worked in the arts before becoming a culture commentator in the Sunday Times, a current affairs columnist in the Irish Times and Irish Independent, and contributing to RTÉ, TV3, TG4, BBC NI, Newstalk, the Western People, New York’s Newsday, anthologies and magazines. Art lecturing and writing includes Ireland, UK, France, Italy and the US.

A psychoanalytic psychotherapist and teacher, she curated the 1916–2016 issue for international journal Lacunae. She spoke and wrote on women activists such as Kathleen Lynn, on Irish theatre, and served on cultural boards. She values several prizes and awards, including a PhD fellowship from University College Dublin.