1972: A Novel of Ireland's Unfinished Revolution

From Booklist
Llywelyn has given the volumes in her Irish Century series, which chronicles the significant periods and events in Ireland's resistance to and independence from British rule, titles corresponding to momentous years; the first series installment, 1916 (1998), was followed by 1921 (2001) and 1949 (2003). The author's chief success in these volumes lies in her ability to create characters from a previous time who possess contemporary vibrancy and viability. Readers who have been following the sequence will appreciate the continued familial connections from one novel to the next, and this latest one sees explosive issues in Northern Ireland culminating in 1972 on Bloody Sunday in Derry. Brad Hooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Review
"Llywelyn's deft pen is a creative sword." -The Irish American Post

"Morgan Llywelyn has written a wonderful, exciting book - a great reading pleasure." -Irish American News on 1921

"Llywelyn is unexcelled in her knowledge of Irish history and culture. For twenty years she has been my inspiration when it comes to meticulous research and respect for the people who lived her stories. Now, with considerable powers of description, Llywelyn explores the nooks and quirks and fearful consequences of a tumultuous time in Irish history."-Lucia St. Clair Robson



Book Description
The Irish Century series is the narrative of the epic struggle of the Irish people for independence through the tumultuous twentieth century. Morgan Llywelyn's magisterial multi-novel chronicle of that story began with 1916, continued in 1921 and 1949 and now continues with 1972.

In 1972, Morgan Llywelyn tells the story of Ireland from 1950-1972 as seen through the eyes of young Barry Halloran, son and grandson of Irish revolutionaries. Northern Ireland has become a running sore, poisoning life on both sides of the Irish border. Following family tradition, at eighteen Barry joins the Irish Republican Army to help complete what he sees as 'the unfinished revolution'.

But things are no longer as clear cut as they once were. His first experience of violence in Northern Ireland shocks and disturbs him. Yet he has found a sense of family in the Army which is hard to give up. He makes a partial break by becoming a photographer, visually documenting events in the north rather than physically taking part in them. An unhappy early love affair is followed by a tempestuous relationship with Barbara Kavanagh, a professional singer from America. Events lead Barry into a totally different life from the one he expected, yet his allegiance to the ideal of a thirty-two county Irish republic remains undimmed as the problems, and the violence, of Northern Ireland escalate. Then Barry finds himself in the middle of the most horrific event of all: Bloody Sunday in Derry, 1972.



From the Back Cover
Praise for Morgan Llywelyn

1921

"Llywelyn continues her magnificent multivolume saga chronicling the twentieth-century struggle for Irish independence. As in 1916, she masterfully interweaves historical figures and events with fictional ones, providing both a panoramic and an intimate view." --Booklist

"It is a seamless and beautiful work that depicts the struggle of the Irish people to form a nation. . . . 1921 is an artful blend of fictional and historical characters that meet and interact with such forcefulness and directness that the reader is convinced that if history didn't happen this way, it should have; for Llywelyn's work is not the skeletal work one normally associates with history, it is fully fleshed and rich with life. . . . This is a wonderful work of history, art, and storytelling." -El Paso Times

1916

"The politics and factionalism behind the Rising are a tangled web indeed, but Llywelyn unravels them skillfully. Even those who know the story well will be surprised and rewarded by the way she brings back to life a group of brave men who went nobly to their deaths."-The Philadelphia Inquirer

"She weaves the tapestry of her story with intelligence and skill, and gives us access to a period when the bullets flew and patriots gave their lives for the ideal of freedom" -San Diego Union-Tribune

"The novel's . . . easy, gripping style will enthrall casual readers with what is Llywelyn's best work yet." -Publishers Weekly (starred review)



About the Author
Since 1980, Morgan Llywelyn has created an entire body of work chronicling the Celts and Ireland, from the earliest times to the present day. Her critically acclaimed novels, both of history and of mythology, have been translated into many languages. She is an Irish citizen and lives in Dublin.



Buy from Amazon     Compare Prices

Complete with footnotes and bibliography, Llywelyn continues her historical series about Ireland's striving to tear itself from England. Again, Llywelyn follows that history in novels named after years selected as turning points in the unfinished revolution (1916, 1921, 1949, now 1972-and who knows where it will all end). With no attempt at lyric prose, the author nonetheless gets a lilt to her characters, who seem almost song-driven by their own voices, which are most intense at war or love. Llywelyn catches echoes of Dos Passos's U.S.A. as she lifts and dramatizes events from newspapers and also from her own family history. Alas, of Dos Passos's inventiveness she has none. In 1949, Swiss-educated Urusla Halloran returned to become Ireland's first woman broadcaster but later found herself pregnant (by dull Father Cassidy or dashing Lewis Banes: She doesn't know which), went back to Geneva and had baby Barry. Now Barry's coming of age focuses the story on his joining the IRA and becoming a photographer, then moves forward through bombs and squabbles between Irish factions to Bloody Sunday in Derry and to Barry abandoning his peaceful hopes and again taking up a rifle. As the multi-novel nears our own age, the reader draws more deeply into the flow of events and the characters. The years whistle by with joy and gunpowder.


Buy from Barnes & Noble     Compare Prices