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described the novel as ‘an adventure story against a little known period and background. And the telling has the Irish lilt and poetry and drama, characteristic of Macken's earlier half-fey writings.’ The literary review website
Reading Matters said: Macken's prose is vividly descriptive if the
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and after the ensuing massacre of the town's inhabitants he flees to the west of
Ireland with his young son and daughter and a wounded priest, Father Sebastian. After two years of barely surviving Cromwell's marauding soldiers who are in search of peasants to sell as
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style is somewhat stodgy and old fashioned. But this does not take away from the dramatic storyline and the moving way in which he depicts his character's struggles against a despicable enemy.
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in the west of
Ireland. There a clan-leader and sympathiser to their cause, Murdoc, grants them land on which to live. But danger continues to stalk them in the form of
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described the novel as ‘action-packed entertainment…an explosive segment of history, filled with contagious emotion.’ The
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in 1959. It is the first book in his trilogy of Irish historical novels and was followed by
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94:(1962) follows a descendant of the family from around 1825 to the first years of the
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said of it: ‘It is an adventure story that is both exciting and moving.’
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Mac Manus, Patricia, New York Herald Book Review, August 2, 1959
62:(1649–53). Dominick Macmahon's wife is killed during the
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1959 Irish novel, beginning a trilogy, by Walter Macken
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received mostly positive reviews. On its release the
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211:Reading Matters review, June 24, 2002
102:(1964), deals with the events of the
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110:in 1916, and the beginning of the
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248:History books about Ireland
34:is a novel by Irish author
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253:20th-century Irish novels
188:Times Literary Supplement
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190:review, October 16, 1959
238:Irish historical novels
224:List of Irish novelists
128:New York Herald Tribune
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40:Macmillan and Company
38:, first published by
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106:, starting with the
123:Seek the Fair Land
100:The Scorching Wind
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31:Seek the Fair Land
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118:Critical response
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92:The Silent People
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243:1959 novels
232:Categories
148:References
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219:See also
87:Sequels
73:slaves
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