Second paragraph of third chapter:The sense of belonging and responsibility experienced by the Department of Finance’s new recruit on his arrival in the north block of Government Buildings on Merrion Street as a junior administrative officer on 1 June 1938 was to remain constant throughout his life. ‘It warmed my heart as a new arrival to find that ( Read more... )

I think this may have been Chambers' first book, before her best selling biography of Grainne O'Malley, the pirate queen. It is journeyman stuff; there is no very clear differentiation between other people's research, Chambers' own findings, and her speculation about Eleanor's mind-set as she witnessed the collapse of her husband's mini-kingdom in ( Read more... )

A fascinating account of a shadowy historical figure of varying spellings, an exact contemporary of Elizabeth I, who appears to have used her own resources to prey on shipping along the Atlantic seaboard of Ireland; it's difficult to be sure what is fact and what is fiction - did she really give birth on board one of her own ships, and then a few ( Read more... )