Only with Blood: A novel of Ireland

by Th r se Down

Overview

'Beautifully written, with crisscrossing, captivating storylines, 'Only With Blood' reveals tenderness and trauma, accompanied by welcome touches of transformation. A great read!' - Catherine Campbell Jack Flynn, strong and aggressive, but slowly dying of tuberculosis on his farm in Tipperary in the Republic of Ireland, decides to acquire - buy - a young wife who can bear him sons to inherit his family's land. His choice, Caitlin Spillane, is less than half his age, attractive and intelligent, and resents bitterly the obedience that is forced upon her. When Donal Kelly, a young firebrand and IRA activist, arrives in the village, he is determined to liberate Caitlin from her unloved husband - by any means. A novel set against the struggle for the heart of Ireland in the Second World War.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781782641353
Publisher:	SPCK (Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge)
Publication date:	06/19/2015
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.70(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Thérèse Down retired as the Head of English in a SixthForm College, in 2018, and taught English Literature and Language for almost thirty years, in a range of schools and colleges. Presently, she isa full time PhD student at a Russell Group University, while continuingto work as a novelist. She is the author of Only with Blood and The End of Law.

Editorial Reviews

05/18/2015
In Ireland during World War II, farmer Jack Flynn decides he needs a wife who can bear him a child to inherit his land. He marries Caitlin Spillane, a beautiful and headstrong young woman less than half his age, by the arrangement of her father. A secondary plot traces the growing involvement of Donal Kelly, a young schoolteacher, in the IRA's underground war against British influence. Caitlin's and Donal's paths cross as both of them balance the claims of duty, family, and their own needs. Down spins a web of psychologically complex characters who hurt others and are hurt themselves; the back story of the emotionally stunted Jack, abandoned by his mother as a child and carrying the burden of his own IRA involvement in his youth, is especially haunting. It certainly helps to know Irish politics and nationalism; some of the references in the English author's narrative are obscure. The strength of the Down's story is not its history but rather its characters and their sad, intertwined longings. (July)

Publishers Weekly

When dying Jack Flynn decides he needs a bride, so that he can sire a son, his young wife Caitlin proves feistier than he anticipated.

From the Publisher