1949

Dramatis Personae

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-one

Chapter Twenty-two

Chapter Twenty-three

Chapter Twenty-four

Chapter Twenty-five

Chapter Twenty-six

Chapter Twenty-seven

Chapter Twenty-eight

Chapter Twenty-nine

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty-one

Chapter Thirty-two

Chapter Thirty-three

Chapter Thirty-four

Chapter Thirty-five

Chapter Thirty-six

Chapter Thirty-seven

Chapter Thirty-eight

Chapter Thirty-nine

Chapter Forty

Chapter Forty-one

Chapter Forty-two

Chapter Forty-three

Chapter Forty-four

Chapter Forty-five

Chapter Forty-six

Chapter Forty-seven

Chapter Forty-eight

Chapter Forty-nine

Chapter Fifty

Chapter Fifty-one

Chapter Fifty-two

Chapter Fifty-three

Chapter Fifty-four

Chapter Fifty-five

Chapter Fifty-six

Chapter Fifty-seven

Ireland Act, 1949

Source Notes

Bibliography

Acknowledgments

Fictional Characters (in order of mention):

Ursula Jervis Halloran:
Born approximately 1910 in Dublin. Foster child of Ned and Síle Halloran.

Henry Price Mooney:
Born in Clare in 1883, and Ella Rutledge Mooney, his wife, born in Dublin in 1890. Daughters Isabella and Henrietta.

Edward Joseph Halloran, “Ned”:
Born in Clare in 1897. His parents drowned in the sinking of the
Titanic
.

Norah Daly:
Ned's spinster aunt; his mother's sister.

Kathleen Halloran Campbell O'Shaughnessy:
Ned's older sister in America.

Frank Halloran:
Ned's older brother.

Lucy and Eileen Halloran:
Ned's younger sisters. Eileen married Lucas Mulvaney in 1929.

Tilly Burgess:
The Mooneys' housemaid.

Finbar Cassidy:
Born in Donegal in 1905. A civil servant in the Free State government.

Felicity Rowe-Howell, “Fliss”:
Ursula's English roommate at Surval Mont-Fleuri.

Madame Dosterschill:
Ursula's German teacher.

Heidi Fromm:
Ursula's Austrian classmate at Surval, who marries Stefan Neckermann, a Swiss botanist.

Cedric Rowe-Howell:
Felicity's brother, a pilot for the Royal Mail Service.

Louise Kearney Hamilton:
Henry Mooney's cousin, and her husband
Hector Hamilton,
the painless dentist.

Lewis Baines:
Cedric Rowe-Howell's friend, the son of Donald Baines from
1921
.

Robert Averitt, Malcolm Weed, and E.G. Bletherington:
Foreign correspondents.

Muriel Baines:
sister of Lewis Baines.

Magnus Leffler:
Swiss obstetrician.

Finbar Lewis Halloran, “Barry”:
Ursula's son, born April 6, 1939.

Gerry and George Ryan:
hired men at the Halloran arm in Clare.

Michael Kavanagh:
son of Kathleen O'Shaughnessy's chauffeur.

Barbara Mooney Kavanagh:
daughter of Michael and Isabella Kavanagh, born 3 May 1947.

Historical Characters

Aiken, Frank (1898–1983):
Armagh-born Irish nationalist; revolutionary, and politician. Commandant of the northern division of the IRA in 1921. Appointed as minister for defense by de Valera in 1932; minister for external affairs 1951–54 and 1957–69; Tánaiste 1959–69.

Attlee, Clement (1883–1967):
Leader of the British Labour Party.

Avenol, Joseph (1879–1952):
French-born secretary-general of the League of Nations until 1940.

Blythe, Ernest (1889–1975):
Northern Protestant born in County Antrim. Joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood; organizer for the Irish National Volunteers; spent the 1916 Rising in prison; elected as a Dáil deputy for North Monaghan in 1918; minister of trade and commerce in the first Dáil; Free State minister for finance, and for posts and telegraphs; director of the Abbey Theatre.

Brennan, John:
Pseudonym of Sydney Czira, writer and broadcaster; a sister of Grace Gifford Plunkett (see following).

Brennan, Robert (1881–1964):
Revolutionary, author, and diplomat; commanded six hundred Volunteers in Wexford during the Easter Rising; under the first Dáil Brennan was responsible for establishing the Department of External Affairs; opposed the Treaty; one of the first directors of the
Irish Press;
Irish minister to Washington during World War II.

Bóru, Brian (941–1014):
Born near Killaloe, County Clare. Prince of the Dál gCais; king of Munster; became Ard Rí (High King) of all Ireland in 1002. Died defeating the Vikings and their allies at the Battle of Clontarf in 1014.

Byrne, Alfie (1882–1956):
Member of the Dáil; served three years as member of the Seanad; was lord mayor of Dublin for a record nine successive years.

Byrne, Donn (1889–1928):
Novelist born in New York of Irish parents, but raised in Armagh.

Chesterton, Gilbert Keith, known as G.K. (1874–1936):
English critic and author of verse, essays, novels, and short stories.

Clandillon, Séamus (1878–1944):
Born in County Galway. Irish language scholar, civil servant, and devotee of traditional music; became first station director and later director of broadcasting at 2RN.

Clarke, Kathleen (1878–1972):
Born in Limerick of a revolutionary family. Married Thomas Clarke.

Clarke, Thomas James (1858–1916):
Born on the Isle of Wight. Joined the IRB in Dublin in 1878; served fifteen years in British prisons for his revolutionary activities; emigrated to America; returned to Ireland and opened a newsagency and tobacconist's shop in Parnell Street; was the first signatory of the Proclamation of the Republic; fought in the 1916 Rising; executed by the British.

Collins, Michael (1890–1922):
Born in County Cork. The son of a self-educated farmer; went to London at sixteen, where he worked in the civil service; joined the IRB in London; returned to Dublin to take part in the 1916 Rising as aide-de-camp to Joseph Plunkett; imprisoned by the British; member of the Supreme Council of the IRB; minister of home affairs and then minister of finance in the first Dáil; negotiated the Anglo-Irish Treaty in 1921; commander in chief of government forces in the Civil War; killed at Béal na mBláth on 22 August 1922.

Connolly, James (1870–1916):
Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, of Irish immigrant parents. Trade union organizer; dedicated socialist; signatory of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic; organizer of the Citizens Army; commandant-general of the Dublin forces during the 1916 Rising; executed by the British.

Cosgrave, William Thomas (1880–1965):
Born in Dublin. Joined Sinn Féin; elected to Dublin city council in 1909; joined the Irish Volunteers in 1913; served under Eamonn Ceannt at the South Dublin Union during the 1916 Rising; minister for local government in the first Dáil; supported the Treaty; first president of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State, 1923–32; lost the general election to Fianna Fáil in 1932; helped found the Fine Gael Party in 1933; retired from politics in 1944.

Costello, John Aloysius (1891–1976):
Dublin-born lawyer. Served as attorney general 1926–32; joined Fine Gael in 1933; represented the government at the League of Nations; became taoiseach in 1948; declared the Irish state a republic during a press conference in Canada that same year.

Czira, Sidney née Gifford (1889–1974):
A sister of Grace Gifford Plunkett; wrote under the pseudonym “John Brennan.”

Daladier, Édouard (1884–1970):
Premier of France who signed the Munich Pact, ceding the Sudetenland to Germany.

de Gaulle, Charles-André-Marie-Joseph (1890–1970):
French soldier, writer, and statesman. Became a brigadier general in 1940; elected president of the French Republic in 1958.

de Valera, Eamon (1882–1975):
Born in New York City. Raised in County Limerick; taught mathematics in Blackrock, County Dublin; joined the Gaelic League and studied Irish with Sinéad Flanagan, whom he subsequently married. Was sworn into the IRB by Thomas MacDonagh; joined the Volunteers in 1913; commanded the third battalion of the Dublin Brigade during the Rising; imprisoned by the British. Sinn Fein TD for Clare; president of the first Dáil 1919–21; president of the second Dáil 1922; rejected the Anglo-Irish Treaty; president of the executive council of the Irish Free State 1932–37; spearheaded the Constitution of 1937; taoiseach 1937–48, 1951–54, 1957–59; president of the Republic of Ireland 1959–73.

de Valera, Vivion (1910–1982):
Born in Dublin. Eldest son of Eamon de Valera. Scientist, lawyer, businessman, and politician; managing director of the
Irish Press
1959–81.

Dillon, Geraldine Plunkett (1891–1986):
Sister of Joseph Mary Plunkett; mother of novelist Éilis Dillon.

Eden, Anthony, First Earl of Avon (1897–1977):
British foreign secretary 1935–38, 1940–45, 1951–55, and prime minister 1955–57.

Emmet, Robert (1778–1803):
Dublin-born member of the United Irishmen. Hanged by the English for attempting a Rising.

FitzGerald, Desmond (1888–1947):
Born and raised in London. Joined the IRB in 1914; organized Volunteers in Kerry; fought in GPO in 1916; director of publicity for first Dáil Éireann; editor of the
Irish Bulletin
. Supported the Treaty; Free State minister for external affairs 1922–27; minister for defense 1927–32); senator 1938–42. Father of future taoiseach, Garret FitzGerald, and architect Desmond Fitzgerald.

Franco, Francisco (1892–1975):
General and leader of the Nationalist forces that overthrew the Spanish Democratic Republic in the Spanish Civil War, 1936–39. Subsequently dictator of Spain until his death.

Gallagher, Frank (1898–1962):
Cork-born journalist. Cofounder of the
Irish Bulletin
; first editor of the
Irish Press
; deputy director of 2RN in 1935; director of the government information bureau in the Fifties.

Goebbels, Paul Joseph (1897–1945):
German-born minister for propaganda in the Third Reich.

Healy, Timothy Michael (1855–1931):
Nationalist M.P. who in 1890 had bitterly opposed the continuance of Charles Parnell as leader of the Home Rule party; in 1922 was appointed first governor-general of the Free State.

Hempel, Edouard:
German Minister to Éire during the war years.

Hitler, Adolf (1889–1945):
Born in Austria. Leader of the National Socialist Party (Nazi) from 1920–21; dictator of Germany from 1933. He assumed the twin titles of Chancellor and Führer in 1934. He rearmed Germany ostensibly to take back the territory lost under the Versailles Treaty, then set out to conquer the continent. His “new order” called for indiscriminate extermination of whole peoples.

Hobson, Bulmer (1883–1969):
Born in County Down of Quaker parentage. Founded a number of organizations including the Ulster Debating Club and the Protestant National Society; cofounded the Dungannon Clubs and Fianna Éireann; joined the IRB; was a founder member of the Irish Volunteers; opposed the Easter Rising; supported the Treaty and became an official in the Revenue Commission in the Free State.

Hoover, J. Edgar (1895–1972):
Director of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation from 1924–72.

Hughes, Séumas: Séumas O hAodha:
Officer in the Volunteers; fought in Jacob's Factory during the Rising; secretary to Cumann na nGaedheal; announcer for 2RN.

Hugo, Victor (1802–1885):
French poet, dramatist, and novelist.

Huxley, Aldous (1894–1963):
English novelist and social critic.

Hyde, Dr. Douglas (1860–1949):
Born in County Roscommon. Scholar and writer, cofounder of the Gaelic League with Eoin MacNeill, named as first president of Ireland in 1938.

Joyce, William (1906–1946):
Born in New York. Propagandist known as Lord Haw-Haw who broadcast from Nazi Germany during World War II. In 1945 he was arrested by the British who executed him for treason. Originally buried in Wadsworth prison, his body was reinterred in Galway.

Kiernan, Dr. Thomas. J. (1897–1967):
Dublin-born diplomat and author. Ph.D. in economics at London University; married to ballad singer, Delia Murphy; inspector of taxes in 1919; joined the staff of the Department of External Affairs; became director of broadcasting at 2RN in 1935; ambassador to Australia in 1950; later served as ambassador to West Germany, Canada, and the United States.

Larkin, James “Big Jim” (1876–1947):
Born in Liverpool to Irish parents. Trade union leader and international activist; instrumental in founding the Irish Transport and General Workers Union; denounced the Treaty; founded the Workers Union of Ireland; three times elected to the Dáil.

Lauri, Lorenzo (died 1941):
Cardinal and papal legate of the Roman Catholic Church from 1926 until 1941.

Lemass, Seán Francis (1899–1971):
Born in County Dublin. Joined the Volunteers in 1914, originally serving in de Valera's company; fought in the GPO in 1916; escaped deportation and went back to school; as a member of the Dublin Brigade he accompanied Collins's assassination squad on Bloody Sunday and took part in killing British agents. He subsequently opposed the Treaty; was appointed minister for industry and commerce by de Valera in 1932; during World War II held crucial post of minister for supplies; became taoiseach in 1959.

Lester, John Ernest “Seán” (1888–1959):
Born in County Antrim. Member of the Gaelic League, the Dungannon Clubs, the Irish National Volunteers; was sworn into the IRB by Ernest Blythe. News editor on the
Freeman's Journal
; in 1923 went to work for Desmond FitzGerald publicizing the work of the Free State; in 1925 was put in charge of correspondence for the Department of External Affairs; in 1929 was appointed Irish representative to the League of Nations; named high commissioner for Danzig 1934–36; assistant secretary-general of the League of Nations 1936; last secretary-general of the League.

Lie, Trygve (1896–1968):
Norwegian politician and diplomat; first secretary-general of the United Nations, serving from 1946–52.

Lloyd George, David (1863–1945):
Welsh-born British prime minister from 1916–22; conducted the negotiations with Ireland for the Anglo-Irish Treaty that concluded the War of Independence and set off the Civil War.