The Soldier's Farewell

WWI is over, but the battle continues in Ireland in the conclusion of Alan Monaghan's trilogy set during the Irish Civil War in Dublin, 1921. The Irish War of Independence comes to a head, in a conflict that will pit Irishman against Irishman, brother against brother. Stephen Ryan, an Irishman who fought for the British in the trenches, is sent to London where negotiations are beginning. He leaves behind his brother, Joe, who has been jailed for his actions in the IRA. There are those on both sides who would see the treaty fail and Stephen soon finds himself beset by problems—a legal dispute, a blackmail attempt, even a plot to assassinate Winston Churchill. This is a story about two brothers, played out against the political and military upheavals that racked Ireland in the 1920s. The Anglo-Irish Treaty brings the war with the British to a close, but a new war is emerging and Stephen finds himself once more called upon as a soldier. Assassinations and guerrilla warfare are the backdrop to the call to arms, as both sides attempt to force a new ord