7/12/2004: 700 pages of really bad writing that for some reason I felt compelled to finish. Basically fictional history of Ireland from "mists of time" (400 AD) to 1530s (beginning of troubles of Reformation) through chapters based on characters who are all descended from just a few families: the Ui Fergusa, the MacGowans, the O'Byrnes, the Doyles, the Walshes. So you want to know what's going to happen to them before you jump to the next century! And you do get an interesting perspective on Irish/Celtic history, including the Vikings, the English invasions, the dream of independence--you can see why they want to be independent.