After the Rising

by Orna Ross

"One is immersed in this epic story immediately and effortlessly… The main characters are so well-drawn that you feel you have heard about them in your own life." - The Evening Herald <<>

A death in the present—a killing in the past.

After twenty years away, Jo Devereux flies home to Ireland for her mother’s funeral — the mother she hasn’t spoken to for more than two decades. Every minute there reminds her of all the reasons she left and she has no desire to reacquaint herself with her home village. Or with Rory O’Donovan, her lost love.

Then, she reads her mother’s will. Her inheritance is a chest full of letters and journals, written by her grandmother and great-aunt, that answer a long held secret. Who murdered her great-uncle in the Irish Civil War.. and why? How did what an uprising for Irish freedom and independence degenerate into a bitter civil war where neighbor turned against neighbor, and family against family– leaving a legacy of lies, secrets, and silences for generations to come?

As Jo unearths the bitter, buried history she shares with Rory she finally understands why their love was doomed from the start. But what about now? Can she stay true to both her heart and her heritage? She knows from her own life how the wild energy of rebellion can carry someone away… but what happens after the rising?

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Ireland, Historical, Irish Literature, Amazon, Contemporary

293 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Orna Ross is an award-winning historical novelist, poet, and founder-director of the global non-profit for self-publishing writers, the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi).

An international bestseller, she enjoys book sales in 120+ countries worldwide and her awards include the Goethe Historical Fiction Grand Prize Award for fiction, Gold Literary Titan award for poetry, the Romantic Novelists Association's Indie Champion Award, The Writers' Digest's Top Websites for Writers, and The Bookseller's Top 100 people in publishing.

In what she describes as “the best move of my writing life”, Orna took her book rights back from her publishers in 2011. The experience has made her a passionate advocate for the commercial and creative empowerment of authors through self-publishing and selective rights licensing.

Reviews

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful book interweaving three different times in the Parle family, 1922, 1975, and 1995. A perfect blend of historical and contemporary fiction. Orna Ross masterfully reveals secrets and motives within the story and, for the first time, allowed me (Oh happy day!) to understand the Irish Civil War which had previously been a tangled muddle in my mind.

Superb writing with beautiful descriptive prose and a strong sense of place. The storytelling was so compelling I kept thinking just one more chapter... Definitely a book to immerse yourself in. I really enjoyed it!

Highly recommended.

Note: This is a prequel to Before The Fall so you may want to consider having that in hand before you reach the end.

[Debbie Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautifully written, sensitive and humane account of the impact of the 1916 rising in Ireland on subsequent generations of a family and on the society in which they live.

What I liked best about this book:

lyrical prose that sometimes soars to breathtaking heights without being remotely ostentatious
it made me understand and empathise with the players in 20th century Irish history for the first time (my previous grasp of events had been distorted by TV news when I was growing up in England during the "troubles")
the sense of Ireland as an island nation
it's part of a trilogy - can't wait to read the rest of it

I know the author personally but she did not ask me to read her book, does not know that I have been reading her book, nor that I'm reviewing it.

[Fictionophile · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very easy to get into. The first scenes depict Jo Devereux's hasty return to Ireland just barely in time for her mother's funeral. From there we discover a little about Jo's life in the United States and a bit about the family's dynamic. The Parles, her Catholic family, owned a pub and store in County Wexford which served as the hub of the village.

Then, when she is given the suitcase with all the letters and documents left to her by her late mother and grandmother, the novel goes back in time to her grandmother's life - a time when Ireland's history was tumultuous, bloody, and divisive.

The book was hard to follow at times due to the myriad characters within its pages. The prose was very well rendered and the story put a personal slant to the Irish/English conflict. Looking toward independence from English rule, the Irish Republicans had a significant number of women contributing toward their cause, despite the socio-economic status of woman of that time.
The letters and diaries of Jo's Gran (Peg) were written around the time of the 1916 Easter Rising. Other papers relate to Peg's later life and included snippets about her dear friend Norah, and her heroic brother Barney.

Peg went on to have a daughter, Máirín who was Jo Devereaux's mother. Family ephemera and yellowed newspaper clippings relate the long conflict and violent history of Ireland from the Irish Civil War leading up all the way to the time of the 'Troubles'.
Jo takes time off work and lingers on in her home town of Mucknamore where she compiles and organizes the contents of the suitcase to write her own family's history as well as how it relates to the history of Ireland. Also, during that time she reunites with her first love, Rory O'Donovan, a man who has never forgotten her, yet is married to someone else and is a father.

I identified with certain aspects of the story, especially the scenes where Jo is a student in a school taught by nuns - as I was up until age fourteen.

The story was compelling, though the pacing was inconsistent. I found it raced by in places and dragged in others. The book was a blend of contemporary and historical fiction which shed a lot of light on Irish political and social history via the perspective of one family's contribution to the events that enfolded.

"After the Rising" was a compassionate, fictional tale of the impact of the Irish conflict on successive generations. Recommended for Irish history buffs and fans of multi-generational family sagas.

3.5 stars rounded up

[Monnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

If it isn't blood and guts, murder and mayhem, I'm likely to turn my nose up at reading it - or so it usually goes. But when I had a chance to get this book at a very special price at Amazon (as long as I got it that day), I checked it out and learned that it relates to an Irish woman's uncovering, and rediscovering, her Irish roots. Maybe because I'm married to a guy who has strong ties to the Ould Sod (and a surname to prove it), I decided to give it a go.

Two things I should note up front: First, the book isn't new; it was published originally in 2006 as Lover's Hollow and reissued late last year. Second, if you read it, be prepared for a rather "unfinished" ending. That's because the new title means what it says; it's part one of a trilogy and, if you like it as much as I did, you won't waste much time getting the follow-up Before the Fall, which was published in February 2012.

This one starts as Jo Devereux, now a magazine writer living in California, returns to her native Ireland village of Mucknamore after 20 years to attend her mother's funeral. Immediately, she's surrounded by memories that she's spent two decades trying to forget. But then, a letter from her brother asks her to dig through papers in an old trunk and use them to write the family history. As she settles in to ferret out the details, the former love of her life - and one of the reasons she fled the country all those years ago - turns up to tempt her once again.

The chapters in the book flip from Jo's account of her life in 1995 as she reviews the old papers to her own days growing up in Mucknamore to the accounts of the goings-on in the Irish uprising of the 1920s or so that relate to her family. It is in these accounts that she will not only learn more about Irish history, but of events that led to her childhood experiences and the person she's become today.

For my part, I enjoyed learning about all of it as well. Ross's writing is so expertly crafted that I didn't want to miss a word - and as someone accustomed to "speed-reading" through most thrillers, I'm a bit surprised that I didn't mind a whit. The minute I finished, in fact, I headed straightaway to buy the sequel!

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wrote out a nearly finished review and my computer ate it. Bullet points it is.

-Should be 3.5 stars. Not a 4.0 book.
-Jo's motivation in loving Rory escapes me.
-Jo's traumatic childhood evoked strong feelings in me. Esp. when she was bullied by her "friends."
-Really more interesting is her grandmother's story.

This book doesn't really answer the questions it started with. I know it has at least one more book in this series, but I feel like we should have gotten some sort of closure, even if it were on one story or another.

[gj indieBRAG · Rating 5 out of 5]

We are proud to announce that After the Rising is a 2012 B.R.A.G. Medallion Honoree!

[Beth Duke · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Beautifully Crafted Work of Historical Fiction

I thoroughly enjoyed this well-written family saga, which transported me to my beloved Ireland and introduced me to characters I'll cherish. In the finest historical fiction, a reader is captured by an engaging story and learning all the while. That is certainly true of this book! I look forward to reading its sequels.

[Áine · Rating 5 out of 5]

The sinking sands of Coolanagh. `WARNING!' they shout. `DANGER! The Sands on this side of the Point are Unstable and Unsafe. Do not Diverge from the Path.'

Orna Ross has written a masterpiece and in this age of exaggeration and hyperbole I hope I can convey just how exceptional is her book After The Rising.

There is not a spare word nor a trite phrase anywhere in this book - the prose is absolutely gorgeous.

She clearly and lyrically tells the story of Cogadh Cathartha na hÉireann (The Irish Civil War) and its after effects through the research and recollections of Jo Devereux, who has come into possession of a chest containing her family's terrible secrets. The war between the Free Staters and the Republicans claimed thousands of Irish lives and Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael live on as reminders of that terrible conflict.

A wise nun leading a pre-Cana class told me years ago that the social pathology of a family muscles its way inexorably from generation to generation unless some one person consciously decides to stop it and repair the damage. In Orna's book, we follow that damage in the Parle, O'Donovan and Devereux families.

Orna writes a battle scene as well as anyone, and in this work tells the story of Cumann na mBan , the women who supported the losing side, the sinking side, and of Norah O'Donovan from a Free Stater family who loved Barney Parle a Republican partisan and of his sister Peg Parle in love with Dan O'Donovan and the tragic - never melodramatic - consequences. And in a more recent incarnation, we learn of Jo Devereux's love for Rory O'Donovan, made impossible by the opposing loyalties of their ancestors.

She writes of the complexities of mother-daughter relationships made ever more complex in a time of war by hardened ideologies; of patriotism; of love for dear old Ireland; of out-of-wedlock pregnancies then and now.

The reader is treated to the epics and legends like Táin Bó Cúailnge and the way they are inextricably woven into the Irish consciousness.

And her gift for narrative brought me near to tears more than once.
"The window frames Mucknamore in full seductive act. Over to our right, the setting sun throws streaks of orange and pink and red along the sky and the sea borrows and flaunts the colours like they're its own. Waves shimmer around the curve of the Point and Coolanagh and between the island and the sea, flat sands glisten with foam. Above it all, seabirds circle and swoop, silver-and-gold underwings flashing in the dazzling, dying light. "
" Peg felt the mystery of a long marriage. The long melding of days and doings felt, in that moment, more significant to her than the melding of bodies to which everyone, including herself, gave so much attention. All that seemed a small thing to hold beside her father's gentle lifting of his wife out of her sickbed, the lightness of her once-strong frame in his arms, the unexpected gratitude in the hands that slipped round his neck. Beside the living, companionable togetherness of them, which Peg had sometimes felt but never witnessed. It was a balm to her now. JJ carried Máire"

Ross (née Áine McCarthy) was raised in County Wexford, home to Vinegar Hill where 20,000 British soldiers put down The Rising of 1798, hence the title, After The Rising. It was an intensely personal experience for me to read this novel, because two of my ancestors were United Irishmen and my father's family was divided by that Rising, and later in the American Civil War, my ancestors were again divided as were thousands of others.

If you are interested in Irish history, in the contribution of women to that country, in the complexities of families striven by ideology, in the glory of the written word, you will want to read this book.

[Bonnye Reed · Rating 5 out of 5]

GNABKo In After the Rising by Orna Ross we see the Irish rebellion for independence through the eyes of three generations of the stoutly Independent, devout Catholic women of the Parle family of Mucknamore, on Coolanagh Island. Owners of a general store and pub, the Parle women sit at the hub of life in County Wexford.

Third generation rebel 'Jo', Siobhan (ShiVAWN), 38 and single and living for the last 20 years a journalist self-isolated in San Francisco is called home at the death of her estranged mother, Mairin (Maureen or Mary) in 1995. After the funeral Jo is handed a letter from the grave, and a large, very heavy suitcase containing every piece of paper ever collected by the Parle women over the years. We have the stories and the diaries of Granny Peg from before the Easter Rising in 1916 until her death in the early 1990's, relating the parts played by Peg and her best friend Norah, and Peg's hero brother Barney. We have notes and letters, memos, memories and obituaries and newspaper clippings from the many scrimmages between the English and the Irish during the lifetime of Peg and her daughter Mairin, and personal memories, family members' tales, newspaper clippings and research done by Jo as she watches Mucknamore grow into the world of 1995 as she compiles, translates, organises and writes the family history in memory of her Gran, and Mammie.

This is an excellent tale, bringing to life the trials and tribulations of the Irish Republicans over the 20th century, their silenced voice, lack of choices, the inequality in the press and of the system. The many times treaties were drawn in the sand and English troops marched over them. It makes more understandable the position of rebellion that was nurtured in Irish Catholic towns and villages. It is a book I can heartily recommend to friends and family, especially those of us who have a distant umbilical to Erin. The stand-alone first of a trilogy, I can't wait for the next installment

I received a free electronic copy of this historical novel on December 3, 2018 from Netgalley, Orna Ross, and Font Publications, Kobo Writing Life in exchange for an honest review. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me.
pub date Dec 16th 2011
rec Dec 3, 2018
Font Publications
Kobo Writing Life

[John Houghton · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are many enjoyable things about After the Rising; the quick and memorable characterisation, Ross' lyrical style, and the analysis of a family blood feud going back almost a century to the Irish civil war.

There were many sentences I re-read times a few times just to savour their tenderness and fluency

But there were two fundamental problems. The first is that the author can tell a story better than she can organise one. At several points, some historical or personal information needs to be introduced to set up the following action. This is sometimes done in a clunky fashion, through the use of letters between characters or via stilted dialogue. For example, during a rowdy drunken, late-night argument, one character points out: "Ah, hold on. Wasn't Wexford one of the very few counties outside Dublin which turned out for the Easter Rising in 1916?" This kid of laboured exposition rather breaks the spell.

The second, related problem is that of the triple narrative, the 1920's story-line is so much more engaging than the others, I found myself flicking through the other pages to return to that narrative. A brief skim of the comments below suggests I'm not the only one to feel like this.

All in all, an uneven but enjoyable book.

[Lindsay♫SingerOfStories♫ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. I loved the characters, I loved the story, I MOSTLY loved the writing. Written in three different time settings, sometimes the jumps seemed a little random to me. They always gave important details and were vividly written but sometimes the interruptions were just too distracting to any single story line. I cried over soldiers, I cried over old lovers....oh, so good! The book definitely ended on a cliffhanger so now I'm off to read book #2!! I'm hoping for a good ending!

[Sally Jenkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

I dithered between 3 and 4 stars for this book. It is very well written and the 3 different time periods are handled skilfully. However I struggled a little bit to fully understand all the politics of the earliest (1920 ish) period and found many of those sections hard going. Also the ending seemed a bit abrupt but maybe that's because this is the first of a trilogy - and I am tempted to get book two, so that's a sign this was a good book!
Orna Ross writes with skill.

[Ilana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I come across award-winning author Orna Ross mostly through her poetry and particularly her involvement on behalf of independent authors and creative publishing industry. After the Rising&Before the Fall was my first encounter with her historical fiction work.

For the short-attention span reader - which I am myself sometimes as well - the fact that the two volumes count over 500 pages may sound discouraging. However, I confess that it is so well written that I hardly felt the weight of the pages. Instead, the smart educated writing balances historical facts with intricated personal histories in such a smooth way that one hardly notice the passage of time.

Jo Devereux is returning to the small Irish village where she had to break up with the love of her life, to burry her mother, with whom she did not speak for 20 years. Family letters and documents lead her to a very complex family mystery enfolding under our eyes in the book. The social and historical details are molded to allow the fictional story to develop.

Orna Ross is a fine writer, with a great sense of balance and which creates skilfully authentic stories that stay in your mind both for the historical resonance as for their literary relevance. I will be interested in reading more historical fiction by her and of course, to pay more attention to the more or less recent Irish history.

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of a blog tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

[K.S. Trenten · Rating 4 out of 5]

One woman returns to the land of her roots and the unresolved feelings she left behind to take on the burden of telling a story. This tale isn’t just hers, but her family’s, about their involvement in the struggle for Ireland’s independence and freedom.

This book feels real. The characters and the problems without any clear answers that they face, the detail of the setting, and the emotional turmoil they go through in the process feel real. They’re also vivid, painful, at times beautiful, and often dive into moral ambiguity. Right answers too often are revealed to be simply personal convictions, leading to heartbreak and the would be heroes questioning their decisions. Patterns of behavior often repeat themselves, something Jo/Siobhan, the main character becomes aware of, as Peg did before her. Or is Jo simply seeing her own experiences in Peg’s history? Whether real or simply a matter of perception, a similarity is sensed between their two lives across time, leading Jo to make certain choices in the face of Peg’s experiences.

This is not an easy read, but it’s an honest, heartfelt, and powerful one. For these reasons, I’m giving this four stars.

[H.R. Kemp · Rating 5 out of 5]

An epic story with rich layers.
This was a multi-layered story set in Ireland over three time zones (1922,1975 and 1995).

A death in the present brings Jo back to her home village in Ireland after having cut her ties and not speaking with her mother for years. She has to confront the past and its good and bad memories, her hurts and disappointments as well as reconcile the less-than-perfect life she now leads. She inherits a chest filled with letters, journals and mementoes written by her grandmother, mother and aunties. For Jo, this leads her on a quest to unravel the lies, secrets and silences of generations growing up in Ireland during those times.

For me, not having much knowledge about this time in history, I found the insights, the beautifully drawn characters and the setting to be an immersive read. I learned things and I spent happy moments engrossed in the story. The tale weaves through time, bringing elements to attention and helped me to understand the very personal impact of the events of those times. A wonderful read.

I thoroughly enjoyed it and recommend it.

[Elizabeth Bell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love what Orna Ross has done and does for the indie author community. Unfortunately, I can't say I enjoyed this novel. It felt longer than it is. With three timelines, I had trouble keeping the characters straight. I also didn't like the modern-day character, Jo. In addition, I never got a sense of WHY the 1920s characters were fighting for their freedom, what was so bad about English rule. Perhaps Ross was writing primarily for an Irish audience, but I wanted to understand why these particular characters wanted Irish independence and I didn't.

[margo wheeler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Timely fiction filling in real history

The title After the Rising crew me in as I knew that I didn't know much about this period. As an Irish-American I am fascinated by the Rising but confused about the Aftermath. For many of us swept up in 1916 it is hard to fathom 1922. This book helped me see this terrible period and feel the difficulties that in many ways continue to this day. ThAnk you Ms. Ross for this story.

[Brigette Peterson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book should probably be more of a 3.5 but not quite a 4. I liked many parts of it but felt it dragged a bit in the middle. Feel like it tied things up at the end but also left it open for book 2.

[Barb Reimer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story weaves 3 stories of women who are kin but generations apart, and individually tangled with a family in their town. It is skillfully written, with beautiful descriptions and compelling characters that make you want to read more. Well worth the time. Glad it is part of a trilogy.

[Nicole Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun

I haven't read the book. I'm just fighting with my kindle. I apologize. I can't seem to get to the beginning of the book. I.Will review once it's read.

[Judie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked After the Rising but was confused with the timeline. I'll read the second book.

[Daryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it a lot. Good characters and family secrets. More than enough Irish history.

[Michael McKee · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Kevin Booth · Rating 5 out of 5]

“If you have not seen the day of Revolution in a small town where all know all in the town and always have known all, you have seen nothing.” — Ernest Hemingway, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Scribner Classics, 1996. p. 106.

Though partially of Irish stock, I confess to scant knowledge of the Emerald Isle’s history apart from the dates of the 1916 Easter Rising and the gaining of Independence in 1922. So Orna Ross’s After the Rising was a compelling introduction, not least because the beguiling lilt of her prose situates one sure-footedly in a deceptively sleepy burg beyond the Irish Sea. Using various first-person narrative voices in the form of letters and diaries, the novel moves between the events of 1922, the 60s and 70s when the predominant narrator is at school and university, and 1995, when she returns to her village for her mother’s funeral and to confront the family’s history, rent by national politics and local rancour. Such a weaving back and forth between periods allows for an overview of the novel’s historical reach, reminding readers that today’s fervent youth will be but a dusty phrase in tomorrow’s history books.

If I was surprised to find little overt description of the divide between Catholics and Protestants, which I had always thought central to Ireland’s history, this is perhaps more of a comment on my ignorance about the conflict. Sectarian undertones are clearly present, but Ross prefers to filter the narrative through the gossip, grudges and friendships of the fictitious village of Mucknamore, where tribal identities and ingrained prejudices score more deeply into villagers’ lives than religion does. Generational hatreds feel bitterly yet bewildering personal as they are wont to become in small communities. In this, both Ross and Hemingway are on the nail.

Most importantly, this is herstory, the history of the land told through the voices of its women. As such it comes closer to the grain of what the struggle was all about. While all conflicts have their economic and political elements, I believe they tend fundamentally to be about cultural identity (though Marx might disagree): the ‘us’ and the ‘other’. The impression I got was that while the fight for a free Ireland was paramount, cultural identity politics were also of prime importance in deciding what flavour of an independent Eire was sought. The denouement happily expresses a loosening of some of these most fiercely held views, enabling the hope for a more tolerant future to creep in.

After the Rising is part of Ross’s Irish Trilogy, of which the next book, Before the Fall, will soon be completed by In the Hour.

[LindyLouMac · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel was Orna Ross's début, originally published with the sequel as 'Lovers' Hollow' by Penguin in 2006. The title has recently been reissued by the author. It is the first time I have read anything by Orna Ross and I feel very guilty that it has taken me so long to read and review 'After The Rising' and the sequel 'Before The Fall' which I read immediately after this one, so will publish the reviews simultaneously. The author was kind enough to provide copies for My Kindle via Amazon a long time ago. A problem I do find with eBooks is that they can easily get lost amongst the many other titles, a case of out of sight out of mind! I must be more careful in future.
The titles mentioned are I and II of an Irish Trilogy and I will certainly be hoping to read the final volume one day, I learnt so much about Irish history following the trials and tribulations of the Mucknamore families.

What a wonderful name for a village, Mucknamore, a fictional village set in the Wexford countryside of Ireland, but the events that took place were real events in Ireland's history. The female protagonist is Jo Devereux who has returned home to Ireland after twenty years away to attend her mother's funeral. Through dealing with her mother's affairs after her death, she finds herself coming into contact with Rory O'Donovan, a man she had a teenage love affair with. Probably the only man she ever truly loved but he is now married. A conflict between their families split them up and she fled to the USA.
Now though back in Ireland reading the family history that her mother has left to Jo, she discovers some surprising truths about her mother and grandmother. She learns about the role of the women in the Irish Civil War of 1923 and about a mysterious incident involving the death of Rory's uncle in the same war. It is these events that have caused on going conflict between the families continuing with each new generation. Probing for the truth Jo is astonished by the similarity to her own life where she has endeavoured to balance love and freedom. What will happen between her and Rory, if anything and how will learning about the past impinge upon her decisions? If you want to find out you will have to read the book.

Written in a flowing expressive style this story left me knowing more than I did about Irish history and looking forward to reading the third title in the trilogy, recommended to fans of historical fiction.

http://lindyloumacbookreviews.blogspo...

[Alison Cubitt · Rating 5 out of 5]

After the Rising is a part coming of age story, part historical novel, dealing as it does with the Irish Civil War in the 1920s. Told from the point of view of Jo Devereux in the present and the letters, diaries and journals of her female relatives filling in the narrative in the 1920s, it is an ambitious, epic of a novel.

Jo is charged with writing the family history over the three generations but when she gradually uncovers the secrets of the past she is confronted by the knowledge that she too is as much part of the story as the earlier generations and so can scarcely be objective. No wonder she struggles with writer's block…..

I don't have anyone left alive now to ask about the impact of the Irish Civil War on my own family as by then both of my Irish great uncles had already been killed in the First World War. And so After the Rising is an important book for me as it goes some way towards explaining what the conflict meant to ordinary people. Families who might have lived amicably, side by side were torn apart because of their politics and the repercussions felt down the generations.

The characters in this book are so vivid that they seem to leap off the page and that is, I think, due to the ear for language and idiom.
After the Rising is beautifully written with carefully chosen words that are as precise as the word selection in a poem. I particularly admired the description of the sea in this sentence: 'For weeks they'd had an east wind with the waves hurrying to the shore with veils of spray blown back, like an army of angry brides.'

The other aspect of After the Rising that really resonated with me was Jo's experience at convent boarding school. I've done my best to forget mine but the passages that describe the relentless routine brought it all back. Like Jo, I too had to 'go to one of the secret places I have hunted down,' just to get some privacy.

I found After the Rising at times tragic at times funny, witty and warm.

[Dixiane Hallaj · Rating 5 out of 5]

In After the Rising, Orna Ross skillfully weaves together the stories of four generations of women of the Parle family. Jo, the narrator, returns from San Francisco to the small village in Ireland where she was born and raised, arriving just in time to be late for her mother’s funeral. She learns she has inherited a suitcase full of family documents including diaries, photographs, newspaper clippings, along with a letter of instructions from her recently deceased mother passing along her grandmother’s request that she write the story of the family because it is an important part of Irish history.
Love, politics, and family dynamics swirl in a fascinating pattern as the story progresses. The reader gains insight into the forces that led the women to make choices that would affect their lives and the lives of their offspring when Jo delves into the documents as a diversion from her own problems. The reader watches the women grow into their lives at the same time they see them through the eyes of the younger family members—a potentially confusing device handled with skill and delicacy by the author. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and I learned a little Irish history along the way.

[Colin Garrow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Returning to her native Ireland for her mother's funeral, Jo Devereux is thrown back into the long-standing conflict between Rory O'Donovan's family and her own. Reaching into the past, Jo begins to examine what it was that drew her to Rory all those years ago, but more importantly, what tore them apart. Letters and diaries from her own mother and grandmother, uncover unsettling truths about the two families and their roles in the conflict known as 'The War of The Brothers'...

This is one of those books that got me at the first page. Unlike some novels set in different periods, the transitions back and forth from one to another are beautifully done and there are no inconsistencies in the narrative. The two sections work together to create a complete history of its characters' stories, presenting a very believable tale of war and domestic life that is not only historically relevant, but often highly emotive and thought-provoking. The usual backstabbing between Catholics and Protestants takes a back seat and instead, Orna Ross tells a story that focuses on the people, the families and the conflicts that wrenched a nation apart.

Orna Ross is a fantastically talented writer and one I'll be coming back to very soon.

[Dianne Ascroft · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed After The Rising immensely. From the opening pages I was drawn into the story and quickly became engrossed in it. Set in Ireland, in the present and also in the 1920s, it’s a modern and an historical fiction rolled into one.

I easily slipped into the modern thread of the story as the main character, Jo, uncovered the secrets in her family history and grappled with her own past. But it was the historical thread that really grabbed me. The characters’ conflicts brought home to me the emotional impact of the Irish Civil War. Friends and communities were pulled apart as they took sides in the political strife and I felt that turmoil through the characters’ struggles.

The complexity of human relationships is at the heart of this story. I avidly followed the characters’ journeys as they experienced love, grief, courage and pain. When the book ended I wanted to know what happened next to each of them, as if they were real people. Luckily for me there’s a sequel due to be released soon – I’m looking forward to it!

[Bethany · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anyone with an Irish background would love this book because it gives a little insight into the struggle to take Ireland back from the British. The story is about a woman who leaves Ireland and "the troubles" behind, living in California---Not much is known of her life in the states, but it wasn't perfect. At the start of the book she is called home to her mother's death bed, but her mother dies before she gets there, leaving her daughter she hasn't seen in 20 years a box of clippings, photos, and letters. The mother's request is that Jo will write the family story, but Jo struggles with a failed lover from 20 years ago (like the McCoys & Hatfields) from the family her family was to have nothing to do with and a pregnancy with a one-night-stand in San Francisco. The author skillfully switches from her aunt's life as a teenager freedom fighting and Jo's messed up life in the present, as well as chapters dealing with Jo as a young girl. Her Irish lover still loves her, even though he is married with two kids, so nothing is as clean and straight forward as it should be.