A River in the Trees

Author/Guide: Jacqueline O'Mahony

Why a Booktrail?

1919, 2019: The Irish war of Independence affects woman 100 years apart

ISBN: 978-1787473546
Genre: Fiction

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What you need to know before your trail

1919

Ireland is about to be torn apart by the War of Independence.

Hannah O’Donovan helps her father hide rebel soldiers in the attic, putting her family in great danger from the British soldiers who roam the countryside. An immediate connection between Hannah and O’Riada, the leader of this hidden band of rebels, will change her life and that of her family forever . . .

2019

Ellen is at a crossroads: her marriage is in trouble, her career is over and she’s grieving the loss of a baby. After years in London, she decides to come home to Ireland to face the things she’s tried so hard to escape. Reaching into the past, she feels a connection to her ancestor, the mysterious Hannah O’Donovan. But why won’t anyone in her family talk about Hannah? And how can this journey help Ellen put her life back together?

Locations

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Ireland - County Cork
A: Skibereen
B: Skibbereen Heritage Centre
C: Skibbereen Tourist Information Office

Travel Guide

Travel to County Cork

Hannah tells the 1919 story and we see the Irish war of Independence through her eyes. There are brutal tale of acts of war, and we get to see the shameful behaviour of the English army in Ireland. The wars were a tough and heart-rendering time.

The Irish War of Independence was a guerrilla war fought from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and the British security forces in Ireland. It was an escalation of the Irish revolutionary period into warfare. The British government bolstered the RIC with recruits from Britain—the Black and Tans and Auxiliaries—and so the war became known by the “Black and Tan War”

There are plenty of mentions of these Tans in the book and the fear they instill into the civil population. Michael Collins also features in the novel – he was a leading figure in the early-20th-century Irish struggle for independence. He was assasinated in August 1922