Name Upon Name

 I’ve been trying to work out why this book is so compelling – and that is absolutely intended as a compliment. I read it in two sessions and the only reason I stopped at the end of the first was because it was past midnight and I needed to get some sleep.

What is it that I’ve been trying to work out?  Well, despite being set in Ireland at the time of the 1916 Easter Rising, there’s very little ‘action’, and what there is is referred to second hand in conversations. As are the experiences of the narrator’s cousin fighting in the trenches in France. In fact, just about the most dramatic thing our narrator does is take a train journey by herself – something young ladies just didn’t do then.

Yet this story of an Irish family divided along religious lines, with the characters arguing about whether to fight with the English against the Germans, or against the English for Irish independence is subtle, complex and absolutely riveting. I’m still trying to understand how Sheena Wilkinson accomplishes this, and I haven’t got there yet. But there is one thing I know: I’ve found a new favourite author.