The Castle Has Fallen
Title | The Castle Has Fallen PDF eBook |
Author | Jack Coyle |
Publisher | AuthorHouse |
Pages | 370 |
Release | 2003-07 |
Genre | Fiction |
ISBN | 1410717011 |
The Castle mentioned in the novel's title is Dublin Castle, which was the central control headquarters for the English authorities in Ireland. Also, the title itself is taken from a statement by Michael Collins to Arthur Griffith, in the Castle grounds, during the ceremony when the British relinquished their control to the Irish. The novel, however, follows the adventures of a very young Irishman, Patrick Kyle, who, at the turn of the 20th century, enlists in the British army, serves through the Boer war, returns home, studies law, and briefly gets caught up in a political incident in Ireland. Later on he again joins the British army, (assuming that Ireland would get its independence if the Irish fought for England) and survives the horrors of World War One. When he returns to Ireland, he becomes inadvertently embroiled in the fight for Ireland's freedom, and is finally accused of treason during the civil war there. He is so disappointed, and disillusioned with the outcome of these events, that he leaves his homeland, and sets sail on a ship bound for America, taking along his beautiful wife, Hannah, and his two children. On the voyage he has, what can only described as, a spiritual experience that convinces him that, in America, he will find a life of peace with his wife and family, that had so eluded him in the past. The story also deals with his love-life, and tells how he had fallen hopelessly in love with Hannah Smyth, a beautiful young lady, whose family were ardent members of The Loyal Orange Order. This Orange Order is a group that had been implanted in Northern Ireland in the 17th century for the purpose of creating and maintaining a Protestant ascendancy there, and was given total political control in that area. This implantation created animosity between the Protestant landowner and the Catholic dispossessed. Consequently, the Orange Order's whole history has been influenced by the idea that Catholics were their mortal enemies, and had to be eliminated, or at least be totally suppressed. As it happened, our hero, Patrick Kyle, was a member of the Catholic Church, and this made for a very turbulent courtship between him and his future wife The novel describes, in sufficient detail, how people thought during the early part of the Twentieth Century, what they're values were, and the politics of that era. The story illustrates how those events of so long ago have grossly influenced current Irish politics, and were basically the root cause of the recent violence in Northern Ireland. This connection is briefly described in the Epilogue. It also dispels many myths and lies put out by the British regarding Ireland's involvement in WW1, and consequently it becomes somewhat controversial in its scope. There is action of some sort on every page, and it never lets up. It could be described as an anti- war book and, with some vivid descriptions of W.W.I battles, an illustration of man's inhumanity to his fellow man. It reflects the confusion of a man whose close friends, that he had fought beside a few months previously, were now his worse enemies, and whose loyalties were so confused by these circumstances that he could no longer discern the difference between right and wrong. There are many stories within this book, all dealing with various periods of this man's life through a very turbulent and violent era. The debacle and insanity of Anglo- Irish politics is simply described, and the reasons for the hero's decisions is explained and justified on his terms. However, in spite of a series of violent and disappointing events, the story's ending has a pleasant and upbeat tone.
The Women in the Castle
Title | The Women in the Castle PDF eBook |
Author | Jessica Shattuck |
Publisher | HarperCollins |
Pages | 291 |
Release | 2017-03-28 |
Genre | Fiction |
ISBN | 0062563688 |
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • FEATURING AN EXCLUSIVE NEW CHAPTER GoodReads Choice Awards Semifinalist "Moving . . . a plot that surprises and devastates."—New York Times Book Review "A masterful epic."—People magazine "Mesmerizing . . . The Women in the Castle stands tall among the literature that reveals new truths about one of history’s most tragic eras."—USA Today Three women, haunted by the past and the secrets they hold Set at the end of World War II, in a crumbling Bavarian castle that once played host to all of German high society, a powerful and propulsive story of three widows whose lives and fates become intertwined—an affecting, shocking, and ultimately redemptive novel from the author of the New York Times Notable Book The Hazards of Good Breeding. Amid the ashes of Nazi Germany’s defeat, Marianne von Lingenfels returns to the once-grand castle of her husband’s ancestors, an imposing stone fortress now fallen into ruin following years of war. The widow of a resister murdered in the failed July 20, 1944, plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler, Marianne plans to uphold the promise she made to her husband’s brave conspirators: to find and protect their wives, her fellow resistance widows. First Marianne rescues six-year-old Martin, the son of her dearest childhood friend, from a Nazi reeducation home. Together, they make their way across the smoldering wreckage of their homeland to Berlin, where Martin’s mother, the beautiful and naive Benita, has fallen into the hands of occupying Red Army soldiers. Then she locates Ania, another resister’s wife, and her two boys, now refugees languishing in one of the many camps that house the millions displaced by the war. As Marianne assembles this makeshift family from the ruins of her husband’s resistance movement, she is certain their shared pain and circumstances will hold them together. But she quickly discovers that the black-and-white, highly principled world of her privileged past has become infinitely more complicated, filled with secrets and dark passions that threaten to tear them apart. Eventually, all three women must come to terms with the choices that have defined their lives before, during, and after the war—each with their own unique share of challenges. Written with the devastating emotional power of The Nightingale, Sarah’s Key, and The Light Between Oceans, Jessica Shattuck’s evocative and utterly enthralling novel offers a fresh perspective on one of the most tumultuous periods in history. Combining piercing social insight and vivid historical atmosphere, The Women in the Castle is a dramatic yet nuanced portrait of war and its repercussions that explores what it means to survive, love, and, ultimately, to forgive in the wake of unimaginable hardship.
Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society
Title | Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society PDF eBook |
Author | |
Publisher | |
Pages | 948 |
Release | 1892 |
Genre | Cork (Ireland : County) |
ISBN |
Includes lists of members.
As a Reincarnated Aristocrat, I'll Use My Appraisal Skill to Rise in the World 3 (light novel)
Title | As a Reincarnated Aristocrat, I'll Use My Appraisal Skill to Rise in the World 3 (light novel) PDF eBook |
Author | Miraijin A |
Publisher | Kodansha USA |
Pages | 341 |
Release | 2023-10-31 |
Genre | Comics & Graphic Novels |
ISBN |
Ars Louvent, the young Baron of Lamberg, has a secret: he's a reincarnated Japanese office worker! Though mediocre at best in the fields of swordplay and strategy, Ars has one thing that gives him a major leg up on his fellow nobles: a skill called Appraisal, which he uses to see past the biases and preconceptions of his peers and gather up a host of capable followers! All is not well in his new home of Lamberg, however. Missian, the duchy Ars's barony lies within, has been plunged into a war of succession, and circumstances have prompted Ars to join forces with Couran, the elder of two brothers vying for the position of duke. Like it or not, Ars is about to find him and his followers playing a pivotal role in battles the likes of which he's never imagined!
The Literary Digest
Title | The Literary Digest PDF eBook |
Author | |
Publisher | |
Pages | 962 |
Release | 1922 |
Genre | Books |
ISBN |
Journal of the Royal Historical and Archaeological Association of Ireland
Title | Journal of the Royal Historical and Archaeological Association of Ireland PDF eBook |
Author | Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland |
Publisher | |
Pages | 932 |
Release | 1882 |
Genre | Archaeology |
ISBN |
Index of archaeological papers published in 1891, under the direction of the Congress of Archaeological Societies in union with the Society of Antiquaries.
The Journal of the Royal Historical and Archaeological Association of Ireland
Title | The Journal of the Royal Historical and Archaeological Association of Ireland PDF eBook |
Author | Royal Historical and Archaeological Association of Ireland |
Publisher | |
Pages | 856 |
Release | 1882 |
Genre | Ireland |
ISBN |