Sinéad McCoole

This is a terrific different perspective on a familiar story: the women involved in the Irish independence movement, War for Independence, and Civil War. That is, if it's a familiar story to you - if it isn't you're going to be a little lost. The book is split into two parts. The first is narrative, and gives a decent summary of the environment, both political and physical, where these women lived - with a heavy focus on Kilmanham Gaol where political prisoners were held through both wars. The second is a collection of biographies of as many women as the author could manage to compile. (It's great to see someone other than Maud Gonne and Countess Markievicz discussed at length.)

Reading the biographies also gave me a new perspective on the Troubles - when founding members of Sinn Féin were being buried with full military honors (which they undeniably deserved) into the late nineties, it's easier to see how people could keep justifying that level of violence. I also want to give a shout-out to the author for being nonpartisan throughout the entire book. She betrays no partiality to either side, British or Irish, Free State or Republican, pointing out the heroism and the atrocities in both, wherever it touches her story. It makes for decidedly uncomfortable reading sometimes, which I have to applaud.… (más)

This biography tells the story of Hazel Lavery, one of London's most influential and beautiful women in the 1920s, a popular society hostess and fervent supporter of Ireland's independence. It details her birth into a wealthy Chicago family, her study of art and her marriage to the artist John Lavery, 24 years her senior. It goes on to examine the Laverys' life in London, where they became popular and entertained many celebrated figures, including Asquith, Bernard Shaw, Churchill, T.P. O'Connor, Beresford, and Shane Leslie, and later by Ramsey MacDonald and Evelyn Waugh. The work chronicles Hazel's assistance of the Irish national cause, using her house in London to play informal host to the Anglo-Irish Conference (1921). By the time of Hazel's death in 1935, the diplomatic links which she had fought to establish had been dismantled by de Valera, and she died believing her life had been utterly without purpose. This biography reveals the restless life of Hazel Lavery to be a pioneering one, drawing on interviews with her acquaintances and her daughter, Alice, and a cache of private correspondence and scrapbooks.
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A very interesting read of a controversial figure in Irish history whose knowledge of and friendship with senior figures of British society made her a significant individual of considerable importance during the course of the Anglo-Irish Treaty negotiations. The closeness of her relationships with Michael Collins and Kevin O'Higgins are explored and the author was severly criticised at the time of publication. However, family members of the O'Higgins family subsequently backed up the author's conclusions. Her relationship with Collins has been explored before although several authors differ over what was his actual sexual preference. It is interesting that Ramsay MacDonald was wary of her attempts to form a close friendship with him while the two Irish figures were essentially besotted by her.… (más)