From Academy Award-winning film director Neil Jordan comes an artful reimagining of an extraordinary friendship spanning the revolutionary tumult of the eighteenth century. South Carolina, 1781: the American Revolution. An enslaved man escaping to his freedom saves the life of Lord Edward Fitzgerald, a British army officer and the younger son of one of Ireland's grandest families. The tale that unfolds is narrated by Tony Small, the formerly enslaved man who becomes Fitzgerald's companion—and best friend. While details of Lord Edward's life are well documented, little is known of Tony Small, who is at the heart of this moving novel. In this gripping narrative, his character considers the ironies of empire, captivity, and freedom, mapping Lord Edward's journey from being a loyal subject of the British Empire to becoming a leader of the disastrous Irish rebellion of 1798. This powerful new work of fiction brings Neil Jordan's inimitable storytelling ability to the revolutions that shaped the eighteenth century—in America, France, and, finally, in Ireland.

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A biography of the 18th century revolutionary Edward Fitzgerald, the son of Emily Lennox, one of the sisters featured in ARISTOCRATS. The book naturally follows on from ARISTOCRATS and is planned to make, with her third book, a trilogy which describes the fortunes of the extended Lennox family between 1740 and 1850. Edward Fitzgerald was born in 1763. He spent his childhood in Ireland. 1780 he joined the army and sailed to America where he fought in the war for Independence. Back home he was elected to Irish Parliament and became a member of the Irish opposition. His political interests became increasingly radical, and he was eventually embroiled in the Irish rebellion, dying in prison. His life was extraordinary colourful and dramatic- as complex and interesting in its political dimension as in his love life. A magnificent sequel to ARISTOCRATS.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1875.