Showing results by author "Sean Connolly" in All Categories

On Every Tide is a wide-ranging and challenging reassessment of the Irish diaspora. Drawing on the latest groundbreaking research, and his own career-long engagement with the complexities of Irish identity, Sean Connolly reveals the forces that compelled millions of Irish men and women to abandon their homeland, and explores their new lives in America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere.

Hester Prynne stands defiantly on a scaffold before hostile Puritans in 17th century Boston, Massachusetts. The baby in her arms and the bright scarlet letter A on her gown are evidence and punishment for the shame she has brought on her religious neighbours. Will Hester continue to conceal the name of the husband who sent her away from Europe years before as well as that of the father of her baby? Will the husband get his revenge on the man who has shamed him? Will that man admit his past and join Hester and her daughter, Pearl?

Henry Fleming leaves his widowed mother behind and marches off to join a war that is tearing his country apart. His regiment has yet to be tested in the fire of battle. Together the soldiers wait while distant guns rumble and the lights of enemy campfires flicker on the hills beyond a darkened river. The young man recalls his childhood dreams of valiant combat. Will he pass the test and return home to tell others of his triumphs on the battlefield? Or will he flee at the first sign of real danger?

Nick Carraway's mysterious neighbour Gatsby gazes across the dark bay at a distant green light. As the summer unfolds, Nick is drawn into Gatsby's world of luxury cars, speedboats and extravagant parties. But the more he hears about Gatsby - even from what Gatsby himself tells him - the less he is sure of the truth. Did Gatsby really go to Oxford University? Was he a hero in the war? Did he once kill a man? Nick recalls how he came to know Gatsby.

'First came the misery of training in freezing conditions for a deployment in a very hot climate. This was typical of the British army and so was the decision to send one hundred trained lunatics running around in dense jungle, armed with live ammunition. And they called this the solution?' Warning Order Belize is a 'down to earth' and witty account of the adventures and misadventures of a young British Soldier in Colchester as he prepares for a tour of duty in Belize .