The Cruelty Men

by Emer Martin

Abandoned by her parents when they resettle in Meath, Mary O Conaill faces the task of raising her younger siblings alone. Padraig is disappeared, Seán joins the Christian Brothers, Bridget escapes and her brother Seamus inherits the farm. Maeve is sent to serve a family of shopkeepers in the local town. Later, pregnant and unwed, she is placed in a Magdalene Laundry where her twins are forcibly removed. Spanning the 1930s to the 70s, this sweeping multi-generational family saga follows the psychic and physical displacement of a society in freefall after independence. Wit, poetic nuance, vitality and authenticity inhabit this remarkable novel. The Cruelty Men tells an unsentimental tale of survival in a country proclaimed as independent but subjugated by silence

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Ireland, Irish Literature, Womens, Historical, Novels

448 pages, Paperback

Published June 6, 2018

About the author

Emer Martin is a Dubliner who has lived in Paris, London, the Middle East, and various places in the U.S. Her first novel Breakfast in Babylon won Book of the Year 1996 in her native Ireland at the prestigious Listowel Writers’ Week. Houghton Mifflin released Breakfast in Babylon in the U.S. in 1997. More Bread Or I’ll Appear, her second novel was published internationally in 1999. Emer studied painting in New York and has had two sell-out solo shows of her paintings at the Origin Gallery in Harcourt St, Dublin. Her third novel Baby Zero, was published in the UK and Ireland March 07, and released in the U.S. 2014. She released her first children's book Why is the Moon Following Me? in 2013. Pooka is her latest book for Children released in 2016 She completed her third short film Unaccompanied. She produced Irvine Welsh’s directorial debut NUTS in 2007. Emer was awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship in 2000. She now lives between the two clashing worlds of the depths of Silicon Valley, CA and the jungles of Co. Meath, Ireland. Her latest novel is The Cruelty Men

Emer is an experienced public speaker and enjoys talking to book clubs, schools, libraries etc. To book her for an event please contact her at martin_emer@hotmail.com

Reviews

[Dem · Rating 4 out of 5]

The cruelty Men by Emer Martin is a vivid and heartbreaking but realistic and brutal multi generaltional saga of Ireland and its people from 1930s to the late 1960s and the effects of the so called "caring societies of Ireland" such as the Magadalene laundries, Industrial Schools and mental Institutions brought one family to its knees.
image:
The Cruelty Men is the story of The O Conaill family transposed in 1935 from their home village of Cill Rialaig, on Bolus Head in Ballinskelligs, Co Kerry, to what would become the Meath Gaeltacht, in Ráth Chairn – an initiative by the Land Commission to promote the Irish language.

Seldom does fiction read like fact but Emer Martin captures an Ireland many would rather sweep under the already dirty carpet. A time when the church pulled the strings and the state bowed to their wishes. I had to check the book twice to make sure this was a fiction story because it was so realistic and true to what happened to many Irish families of this time if they came to the attention of the Cruelty men or indeed the Catholic church.

The Curelty Men is a story of extreme hardship and suffering, thought provoking and raw and probably the most vivid sense of time and place I have read in an Irish novel. The language and phrases are so authentic that I smiled so many times as many many of the words and sayings were familiar from older folk from my childhood. From all the News reports, history and stories I have read or heard about this time in Irish history, Emer Martin has captured the bleakness and reality of the time without over writing the story or becoming too sentimental or preachy. The characters are beuatifully drawn and I loved the short chapters which kept the novel fast paced and flowing.

While this is a bleak and dark story it never came across for me as depressing as the author has flecks of humor and folklore that gave this book a lift that was refreshing and interesting. The ending is not wrapped up in a nice little bow nor should it and Emer Martin allows the reader to use their imagination in figuring out where some of these characters end up. I think perhaps there is a sequel here waiting to be written.

This is a book that will stay with me as I believe this tells a story for many a forgotten Irish soul who was tortured and beaten down by the so called "caring societies of Ireland" that ruled over the poor and uneducated Irish between 1930 and 1970s.

[Charlotte Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved reading this book, in fact I think it's my favorite read so far of 2018. The story and characters are incredibly compelling. It's a difficult and painful subject to tackle but Martin moves through the story without ever losing the grace and humanity of the characters despite their hardships. It would be easy to get locked into the harrowing experiences that are told or implied throughout the story but I ultimately found myself in awe of the strength and compassion each character displayed in the face of tragic hardships, and Martin's storytelling around pain and dysfunction was gripping yet not overwhelming - I didn't have that "oh, I can't look" feeling which sometimes puts me off difficult stories. I felt connected to Mary, Sean, Seamus, Paddy, Baby, Ignatius, Maeve and other characters. I wanted to know them and their journeys. The fact that I can even recite those names here is testament to the storytelling as I'm not usually one to remember character names.

This story demonstrates the power and importance of oral history and storytelling, but more significantly for me it tells the simple power of knowing and honoring a person's given name - taking a person's name from them is a terrible step towards dehumanization.

[Leah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ireland, are you OK?

Kept asking myself this question while reading this book I bought on a trip to Dublin during St. Paddys. (The essential part of any holiday is to take a book with you as a souvenir!)
The Cruelty Men mainly concentrates on the years 1933-1969, while also dedicating some chapters to the Great Famine and Cromwells conquest of Ireland. Center of the story are Mary and her family who've been relocated from Kerry to County Meath by the government and soon become orphans when their father dies on a trip back to Kerry. Throughout the chapters the main characters keep telling the same traditional stories over and over again, highlighted in italic, which adds to the mysterious tone of the book.
I kept rereading articles about Mother-Daughter homes in Ireland and laundries, Industrial Schools and was shocked about the injustices people had to suffer.
Martin didn't even bother to hide this, so her book turned out gruesome and really dark at some point.

Overall, it is a thorougly researched historic novel with a lot of heart and loveable characters in it.

[Anastasia Zamkinos · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a phenomenal, engaging tour of family dysfunction, Irish history, and storytelling. I read it while traveling in Ireland and could barely put it down! I cannot thank Emer Martin enough for the beautifully woven narrative and the insights into Irishness.

[David Corbett · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was drawn first to this book by Irvine Welsh’s cover quote, “A bible of fucked-up Irishness.” The novel is an incredible journey through Celtic myth and folktales and recent Irish history (1935-1970), especially as it concerns the Catholic church’s use of “cruelty men,” a quasi-official band of borderline thugs who roamed countryside in search of orphans or the children of families too poor to feed them. The children would be taken to “industrial schools” where they would be hideously abused in what was basically a child slavery trade. Anyone who believes theocracy might have merits would do well to read this book.

The author uses the classic Celtic story “The Children of Lir” as both backdrop and springboard for the telling of her story, but never succumbs to the impulse to just stick her characters into their mythic counterparts like dolls in new clothes.

She did extensive, truly impressive research into the plight of Irish children during the timeframe of the story (1935-1970), as well as the roles of Church and government in the brutal scheme, the indifference of the Irish middle class, and life as it was truly lived not just for the poor and dispossessed but those better off. She creates an Irish family, especially its children, who live and breathe and suffer on the page. It’s this devotion to truth, the authority of her details, and her creation of such heartbreaking characters—not her mythic analogy—that creates the books capacity to inspire awe.

[Molly Ferguson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was between 4 and 5 stars for me, but I ended up on 4 because it took me forever to read it (which may be less of the fault of the novel and more of the situation of reading it during a virus quarantine). It is an absolute epic saga told in chapters narrated by multiple generations of a family, with a different narrator for each chapter and some narrated by "the Hag". In terms of folklore, this novel was amazing - Mary's stories really drove the narrative and pulled the concepts together throughout. However, I found the novel unrelentingly heartbreaking, and I do love a sad Irish novel. The family ended up in every kind of horrifying institutional system on the island of Ireland, with the worst possible outcomes for each of them. My reaction, again, may be a sign of the times I was reading it in. I think I will come back to this and reread all or part of it for the folk stories about the Hag, the bhulbae, and the changeling. Emer Martin is one to watch.

[Ciara Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is phenomenal and is a collection of so many hard truths from Irish history that anyone interested in Irish history or growing up in Ireland nowadays needs to know about. The writing is emotional and beautiful and the author leaves just enough questions left unanswered to keep you enticed and hungry for more. Everyone should read this book!

[Sansa snark · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Inside your national museum the bog bodies lie exposed. Waiting for their sacrifices to be worth something.”

[Nancy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Finished: 25.03.2019
Genre: novel
Rating: D+
#ReadingIrelandMonth19
Conclusion:
Shortlisted for Kerry Group Irish Novel of the year
This books swings crazily between
cruelty, tenderness,
candor and bullying.
Low score because it did not appeal to me.
But...you may like it!


My Thoughts

[Regan Slaughter · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a hard book to review. It is extremely engaging, the storytelling is good, and the characters are vivid (if sometimes a little two dimensional). However, the last third or so is a heavy task to get through. There is a heavy tone shift around the same time as the first major character death, which is about the time the book shifts from a parade or hardships to a parade of horrors. During these scenes the book sometimes became a little heavy handed, which felt a little unnecessary given the already obvious evils. There were also several character threads left completely unresolved with many questions left unanswered, but that felt more like a clever rhetorical choice that served as a metaphor for lost people than anything else.

I don't know that I could say I enjoyed reading the entire book exactly, but I do think it is a great novel, and definitely worth the read.

[Nessa O'Mahony · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Cruelty Men is a simply terrific historic novel exploring the layers of social dysfunction afflicting Irish society in the first decades of independence. Using the unfortunate O'Connell family from Cill Rialaig, Ballinskelligs,Co. Kerry as a sort of Every Family, Martin explores the extent to which individual freedom was curtailed by powers of church, state and patriarchy. The writing is compelling - lyrical description of landscape is followed by harshly objective depictions of the brutality of institutional life in the 1930s and 40s and 50s. Martin contextualises her forensic dissection of Irish society within the wider sweep of Irish history. Highly original and highly recommended.

[Gemma Whelan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a brutal, unflinching journey through Irish history of the last century. Emer Martin brilliantly weaves in and out of intersecting stories, creating unforgettable characters, moving back and forth in time, and layering it all with mythology. The storytelling is masterful as it drags us through the underbelly of Irish life and casts a deadly eye on the abject failure of the Church and State to protect its most vulnerable citizens. As the narrative seduces us, and the story builds in excitement and intensity, it lays bare the cruelties and spares us nothing. The Cruelty Men is an exhilarating and heartbreaking book. It is a necessary book for our times.

[Bill Zarchy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A horrifying account of the disintegration of a poor Irish family and the complicity of the Church in impressing indigent young people into involuntary servitude. Emer Martin is a wonderful, skilled writer who brings us along for the ride. Highly recommended.

[Kev O'Brien · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book should be essential reading on the Irish leaving cert English syllabus.

What a beautiful, sad & moving way of telling some dark, uncomfortable truths through fictional characters.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Devastating... So well written but absolutely devastating.

[Hanna Boven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poor, poor Mary. She tried so hard, but nobody could have done better in those horrible circumstances. Poor Sean, poor Padraig, poor Maeve, poor, poor creatures. Poor Ignatius, poor 980, poor 981.

Wow, this book opened my eyes on so many fronts. The horrible truth about it, is that it is loosely based on historical facts; all that abuse, all that bigotry, all those lives just tucked away or lost, that actually happened. I cannot imagine having to live with that history within your national shared consciousness. I love Ireland all the more for all this complicated mess

[Celeste · Rating 5 out of 5]

i don't feel up to writing a review at the moment but just know that this is really good...really sad also. a real stare at the wall when you're finished type of book. so well written — all the characters feel so real even the ones that just made me angry and angry and angry (I hate seamus so much)...and i really hope that one day maeve discovers that 435/bright is fionnula....and just like with thirsty ghosts I just want a better future for everyone

[Siobhan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whilst this book was a hard read I think it very much reflected the Ireland of its time. I had never heard the term cruelty men but only yesterday listening to the radio there was a member of the travelling community speaking of their fear of the cruelty men. It made me realize that in 2024 these images and people didn’t go too far back in years.

A tough read where church and state went hand in hand and good people did exist but couldn’t break the system.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautifully written story off unimaginable horror

A wonderful book about some of the worst parts of Irish history: the boarding schools for boys where they were sexually abused, beaten and sometimes murdered by the priests; and the laundry houses for unwed mothers where they were exploited, beaten, imprisoned and broken by the nuns. A fantastic read.

[Kelly Redmond · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of those books that stays with you well after you read it. I was foolish and gave it a lend to someone and never got it back. So I went and bought it again. It’s one of those books you could read again and again.

[Thelma Gabbett · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book has been on my to read list for long-time. when I started it i wasnt sure I could finish it. but I did and it is heartwarming but heart wrenching unbelievable sad and yet intriguing. out history laid bare warts and all. beautiful book

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was swept away in this story! I finished the book in one day because my heart couldnt leave the characters! The depth and breadth covered about the Irish history and culture while narrating a soul touching story about a family is impressive. I highly suggest it!

[Michellemcnicholas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I did not expect this book to be as good as it is. what a fascinating insight into the grim life of Ireland in the 50's for some people trapped by their circumstances.

[M]

DNF at 40%. Couldn't properly get into this. The pace was just too slow, and there wasn't much happening. Not for me.

[Paul McCormack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent story and great characters

[Roxy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book reached into my chest and tore my 1/8th Irish heart right out.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful and tragic story. There is a sadness and resilience about the Irish that resonates through this book.