When I turned the last page of Rutherford's The Princes of Ireland and saw the advertisement for the sequel, I ran out and bought it the next day, excited for what was to come next. I was not disappointed. This sweeping novel brought the history of Ireland into the present, told through the interconnected lives of everyday people.

What I love about Rutherford is that he tells his stories from so many perspectives; for instance, instead of the typical take on the Easter Rising of 1916 and the War of Independence and Civil War that followed, we are given the women's story - what their role was in the conflict and how it affected their family and their home. With him, you get not only an understanding of the greater events that were occurring at the time with a blind reference to 'the people,' but an intimate telling of how those in power affect the day-to-day lives of those same people.

The novel is no doubt long, just like the first, and at times it feels like it may not end, but as you read the final chapters, you realize that so much work has brought you here to culminate in a fantastic conclusion.