Author: Julie Kavanagh
The book is about the assassination of Lord Frederick Cavendish and Thomas Burke while walking in the Phoenix Park in Dublin on May 6, 1882.
The murders ended what should have been a turning point in Anglo-Irish relations.
In a story that spans Dublin, London, Paris, New York, Cannes and Cape Town, Julie Kavanagh “thrillingly traces the crucial events that came before and after the murders,” said a review on goodreads.com.
The book contains several side stories including that of the political relationship between William Gladstone and Charles Stewart Parnell.
The book centers around the themes of colonization and its after affects on the generations that follow.
It also looks at terrorism/civil war and how outside influences can affect the outcome of these situations.
“This is an unputdownable book from one of our most compulsively readable writers,” said the review.
As Kavanagh’s book amply demonstrates, life is indeed stranger than “the creations of fiction.”
The book “is too academic to be a general interest history, but too general to be of use to academics,” added the review.
